Did you know that Bryce Harper leads the NL with 15 home runs? And that Bryce Harper leads all of baseball in WAR? Harper’s walk rate is an incredible 21% and he’s slugging .732. Did you know that too? Did you know that Bryce Harper is doing all this at just 22? Of course you did. By now, you know everything there is to know about Bryce Harper (including his thoughts on certain umpires). If you read or watch baseball news, you know that Bryce Harper is off to a bonkers start, the kind we’ve known he’s capable of since he was drafted first overall in 2010. Bryce Harper is a superstar, presumably on his way to another All-Star Game start and vaulting his way to the top of early MVP discussion. We know this. We know all of this.
So this article isn’t going to be about Bryce Harper. After all, the Washington Nationals have 24 other players, and based on how many people predicted them to reach the World Series coming into the season, those players are pretty good too. The Nationals are 8-2 in their last 10 games, winning their past 5 coming into tonight’s series against Philadelphia. In the process, they find themselves where everyone thought they’d be at this point, atop the NL East, half a game ahead of a Mets team that crash landed back down to earth after their scorching start. Let’s take a look at some of the Nationals players who have managed to help Washington get back to the top of the division, despite the fact that they are not Bryce Harper.
Bryce Harper does not patrol the outfield by himself, no matter what you’ve heard (or how badly you want to see it, because that sounds amazing). Denard Span is in his third year playing center field for the Nats, and so far is on pace for the best year of his career, slugging .510 and hitting .333. And he’s been hitting like crazy recently, hitting .372 in his last 10 games and raising his batting average 47 points. In 7 of those 10 games he’s had two hits, including 6 games in a row from May 11th-16th. He also snuck a home run in there, along with 6 runs and RBIs each. With their leadoff hitter on such a tear, it’s no wonder the Nationals are improving.
Ryan Zimmerman was the Nationals’ original Bryce Harper, in a sense. He was their first first-round draft pick as the Washington Nationals and 10 years later he’s still on the team, albeit at a different position. He’s the elder statesman of the Nationals franchise, and while he was off to a slow start there have been signs of life. The past 10 games he’s hit .294, raising his season average to .239. In the process he’s scored 7 runs, driven in 11, and hit 2 home runs. The highlight came on May 19th, when he hit a 10th inning walk-off home run against the New York Yankees. Zimmerman may not be the elite hitter he used to be, but he’s still helping this team.
Think Bryce Harper is the only National with weird hair? Look above and think again. After three straight seasons of a sub-.700 OPS, Yunel Escobar signed with Washington this offseason with the hopes of resurrecting his career as their starting third baseman. And so far he’s done nothing but hit. The past 10 games have seen him manage to increase that. He’s hit .375 during this 8-2 rise, bumping his season average up to .326. He scored 11 runs and driven in 4. The highlight? May 11th, where he went 5-5 in Arizona, scoring two runs and driving in another. Great teams often have surprising seasons from the roleplayers, and Escobar seems poised to fill that role for this team.
Jordan Zimmermann is overshadowed on the Nationals not just by Bryce Harper, but by other members of the rotation, thanks to the historical draft hype of Stephen Strasburg and the contract and fantastic start Max Scherzer is having. But Zimmermann has been a model of consistency at the top of the Nationals rotation for a number of years now. An early start this year where he gave up 7 runs ballooned his ERA, and he’s been slowly lowering it ever since. He’s made 3 starts in the past 10 games and gone 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA and 14 strikeouts. His ERA in the process has fallen to 3.52 for the season, and his 2.99 FIP suggests he could be on his way to lowering it even more.
Drew Storen has had as many as 43 saves in a season for the Nationals, and had a sparkling 1.13 ERA last year in 65 appearances. There’s practically nowhere to go but down from a season like that – unless it’s late May and you’re Drew Storen, who currently sports a 1.04 ERA and 1.39 FIP. In the past 10 games Storen has made 5 appearances, in which he got 4 saves with 7 strikeouts, not giving up a run. He’s providing incredible stability for the Nationals bullpen, establishing himself again as a shutdown closer, and, like all the players on this list, he is not Bryce Harper.