Philadelphia Phillies superstar Bryce Harper has won his third career Silver Slugger Award. He took home the award for the National League DH position, beating out J.D. Martinez (LAD), Marcell Ozuna (ATL), and Jorge Soler (MIA).
The Silver Slugger Awards were announced on MLB Network on Thursday evening. If you aren't familiar, these awards are voted on by managers and coaches and are awarded to the top offensive player at each position in each league, per Brian Murphy of MLB.com.
Four Phillies were named finalists for the Silver Slugger Award, with Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, and Trea Turner coming up empty.
Harper's third Silver Slugger comes after a strange year for the 31-year-old veteran. He didn't get into game action until May 2, when he made his season debut after returning from Tommy John surgery in record time.
After starting his season with a robust 20-game stretch in which he hit .347 with a .983 OPS and three home runs, he had "a career-long power outage," per Murphy. He didn't see a ball leave the yard for 37 games from May 26 until July 15. He hit just .259 with a .672 OPS over that stretch.
Once he got the monkey off his back, he was the Bryce Harper Phillies fans had been waiting to see. From July 15 through the end of the season, he hit .296 with a 1.004 OPS. He mashed 18 home runs, drove in 49 runs, and scored 51.
Harper finished the regular season with an impressive .293/.401/.499 slash line, 21 home runs, 72 RBI, 84 runs scored, and a 142 wRC+. And he did all this while learning a new position, finishing the season with 36 games at first base.
Harper's other two Silver Slugger Awards came in his two MVP seasons. He previously won the award in 2021 with the Phillies and in 2015 with the Washington Nationals.