“I just really have to trust myself… and try to hit that ball in that box again… I just have to do my best to stay in my zone,” the first baseman said recently. Lauren Shehadi of MLB Network.
Even while battling wrist infections last season, Harper played in 132 games and still hit .261 with an .844 OPS and 27 home runs. Elite or not, the two-time MVP clearly took Dombrowski’s words personally.
After arriving at spring training, reporters asked Harper about his boss’ comments. “I’m not motivated by things like that. For me it was a bit wild,” he said.
Harper’s 2015 MVP season was even better, as at age 22 he led the National League in home runs (42) and MLB in on-base percentage (.460), slugging percentage (.649) and OPS (1.109).
The Phillies could use an MVP season from Bryce Harper
In the eighth year of his 13-year contract ($330 million), Harper has made the postseason in each of the past four seasons (2022-2025), reaching the World Series in 2022 and losing to the Houston Astros.
In the 2025 NL Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, eventual World Series champions, Harper flopped, hitting .200 with an OPS of .600 and striking out three in 15 at-bats.
Featuring Kyle Schwarber – the National League MVP runner-up to the two-way superstar of the Los Angeles Dodgers Shohei Ohtani – if he hits in front of or behind Harper, he should see enough pitches to attack.
“I still have a lot to prove to myself,” Harper said Matt Gelb of The Athletic recently told us. “That’s my inner monologue. You know what I mean? I put a lot of pressure on myself. I always have.”
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But the Phillies need MVP Bryce Harper again. The only question is whether he still has it.
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