Which franchise records will Bryce Harper break by the end of his Phillies contract?
When Bryce Harper signed his historic contract with the Philadelphia Phillies in March 2019, it seemed like all the time in the world.
Harper won’t be a free agent again until 2032; his 13-year contract is one of the longest in MLB history, and its $330M price tag was the richest in North American pro sports history at the time.
Seeing as Harper has a full no-trade clause for the entirety of his contract, he has plenty of time to cement himself in the franchise record books. In his first three seasons and 356 games with the Phillies, he has 351 hits, 87 doubles, 83 home runs, 240 runs scored, and 231 RBI. He’s also struck out 355 times, drawn 248 walks, and stolen 36 bases. His Phillies career slash line thus far is .281/.402/.556 with a .958 OPS; that slugging percentage and OPS currently rank first among all Phillies hitters.
Of course, Harper isn’t focused on personal glory. As he put it when he won the 2021 NL MVP, he’s “hungry” for more; he wants to win a World Series with the Phillies. However, we can’t predict the next decade of rosters, so let’s focus on Harper’s personal glory for now.
The franchise offensive leaderboards are littered with franchise legends Mike Schmidt and Jimmy Rollins, so the real question is, can Harper dethrone them? The caveat is that Schmidt spent his entire 18-year career and Rollins spent the first 15 years of his career with the Phillies, while Harper got started with the Washington Nationals. On the other hand, Harper made his debut at 19 years old, while Rollins was 21 and Schmidt was 22.
I opened up the calculator app on my phone and did some math. Here are some of the leaderboards Harper can scale if he continues his offensive dominance…