Phillies Superstar Bryce Harper Named National League Player Of The Week After Scorching West Coast Pitching
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Bryce Harper scorched pitching on the West Coast last week, and Major League Baseball took notice. Harper was named the National League Player of the Week for the week of May 9 to May 15 on Monday.
In six games last week, Harper hit .609 with a 1.261 OPS, three home runs, six doubles, eight RBIs, 14 hits, four walks and just two strikeouts in 28 plate appearances. The Phillies won five of seven games, winning series in Seattle and Los Angeles.
The Phillies were without Harper on Sunday after he received a PRP injection in his right elbow to treat a torn ligament. The Phils' bullpen collapsed, blowing a 4-3 lead in the ninth to lose, 5-4, to the Dodgers but still left L.A. with an impressive series win.
Harper played an enormous role in the Phillies' impressive road trip and especially taking three games out of four from the Dodgers.
The 2021 NL MVP went 8 for 12 (.667) with three home runs, eight RBIs and a 2.417 OPS in the series' first three games against the Dodgers. He became the first visiting player ever to hit a homer and at least two extra-base hits in three straight games at Dodgers Stadium, according to The Athletic's Jayson Stark.
Since becoming the Phillies' full-time designated hitter on April 17 because of his elbow injury, Harper is hitting .354/.383/.727 with a 1.111 OPS, eight homers, 11 doubles, one triple and 21 runs scored in 25 games.
All of this coming while Harper has changed his approach at the plate from waking pitches to swinging away. He's currently chasing 34% of his pitches, swinging at 55.9% of his pitches and 52.1% of first pitches, all three career highs. Harper has a career-low 7.5 walk percentage thus far and has just five unintentional walks during the 25-game stretch as DH. His 6.1 home run percentage, however, is the second-highest of his career, trailing his 6.4% in 2015 when he won his first MVP award. Last season he was at 5.8%.
This season, Harper is also hitting the ball the hardest of his career -- 51.5 hard-hit percentage, slightly higher than his 2015 51.2%. -- and hitting more line drives, 35.6%, also a career-high. His 28.7% groundball ratio is also a career-low.
The 29-year-old's nine home runs on the season is tied for the National League lead entering Monday. He's hitting .305/.361/.994 with a .994 OPS and 183 OPS+ in 34 games in 2022. He hasn't played the field since April 16 and will be the team's DH for the foreseeable future.
Los Angeles Angeles rookie Reid Detmers won the American League Player of the Week. Detmers threw a no-hitter last week.
