Is This Bryce Harper's Breakout Season? It's Been Fun to Watch

Bryce Harper is 22 years old. Let that sink in.

Baseball, throughout its history, has made a weird habit of disliking youth — think back to the derisive term “bonus baby.” We often talk about the sports’ unwritten rules, one of which is rookies and young players “earning it.” That’s probably a lot of the reason — and petty jealously — Harper twice earned “most overrated” honors via an ESPN player poll. Harper could have swatted 75 home runs last year and some vets likely would have still considered him overrated.

Again, Bryce Harper is 22 years old.

And now he’s healthy and mashing. No, hit didn’t leave the yard on Sunday, but he swatted six round-trippers in three games from Thursday to Saturday (including a walk-off vs. Atlanta), pushing him to a National League best 11, to go with a league-high 27 walks. When Harper landed on the cover of SI, got drafted in 2010 and called up in 2012, this stretch was the immediate expectation. We saw glimpses of it in the postseason last year versus the Giants, but this is the best sustained run of Harper’s career — which always carries the caveat IF he stays healthy.

Sure, maybe Harper comes off as a bro, mainly because of his jacked up forearms and liberal use of eye black, but unless you’re a bitter old veteran it’s difficult to dislike Harper. It’s fun watching him launch balls out of the yard, maybe it’s the lefty swing. Call me crazy but I’d rather appreciate greatness than try to tear it down — a crazy notion.

Cross-sport comparisons tend to be strained, but it’s worth pointing out that the Cavaliers went to the NBA finals in 2007 when LeBron James was 22. Granted, people kept “hating” on LeBron until he *finally* won a title with the Heat. Wayne Gretzky, another phenom, led the NHL in goals, assists and points at 22 with Edmonton, although he’d done the same thing the previous year. At 22, Ken Griffey Jr. was still a year away from smacking 45 homers with the Mariners in 1993.

Believe it or not, on of the most-apt comparison might be the one-and-only Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez. His year 22 season was also his fourth in the Majors. In 1998 he led baseball in hits — 42 of which were home runs.  We’ve also seen players such as Stan Musial and Johnny Bench win MVP awards at 22. (Vida Blue is the youngest, beginning the 1971 season aged 21). Mike Trout was an MVP in 2014, turning 23 in August. Perhaps Trout’s historic accomplishments indirectly impacted the view of Harper, since many will wonder why he hasn’t been able to match the Angels star at roughly the same age. More often than not, we turn sports arguments into binary yes/no questions. Can’t both Harper and Trout both be great at the same time?

Nowadays we want instant results in everything. All told, Harper has hardly disappointed in his first three seasons. Maybe now we’re about to hit the stretch where he fulfills all the mountains of hype and whatever that might entail, as if he owes us all something for being turned into a teenage baseball demi-god.

This should be fun.