Bryce Harper went 1-for-4 with a single, an error, and a strikeout in Thursday night’s loss to the Nationals, dropping his season OPS down to .784.
In 31 games this season, the Phillies star is batting .235 with a .417 slugging percentage, and over his last 40 plate appearances is hitting just .147 with a lousy .481 OPS.
The season is still relatively young, but it’s getting close to where that will no longer apply, and Joe Giglio says it’s time to have the Harper discussion.
“Sometimes you have to rip the Band-Aid off and address the elephant in the room,” Giglio said. “Bryce Harper has not played well this year. Bryce Harper has been below the standard of what we expect from one of the best players in baseball.
“I don’t know where he ranks [among the best in baseball], but he hasn’t played anything like that this year.”
Harper is the Phillies’ bonafide All-Star, but he is currently on pace for his worst season since 2014 in terms of OPS, and his worst ever in terms of batting average. The 32-year-old was an All-Star and hit 30 home runs last year, and Giglio says it’s about time that Harper gets back to that level of production to help the Phils keep pace in a very competitive National League.
“Body language at times is not great, and the defense - which is usually pretty good - last night, that was a bad, bad error,” Giglio said.
“We’re over a full month of the season in, and he has not played very good baseball.”