Bryce Harper Is In What You Could Call A Slump

With good news comes bad news. The good news is the Nats keep on winning, and maintain a 4 game lead over the Marlins and a 5.5 game lead over the Mets in the NL East. The bad news is Bryce Harper’s bat is nowhere to be found. He is having perhaps the worst month of his professional career, going 14/79 thus far in July, good for a .177 average. Some people want to blame the May Cubs series where he was walked 47 times on his down year, but keep in mind Bryce hit .280 in June. And that seems to be the pattern this year for him- hot start, bad month, rebound, and another bad month. After his hot start in April where he had 9 home runs and drove in 24 runs, he’s hit just 11 more HRs this season with an additional 31 RBIs in the other 3 months.

Dusty had tried to get him out of the slump by moving him up the 2nd in the lineup, but that has not helped him find his groove. Bryce is 5 for his last 50 and has walked only 11 times this month. Though the month isn’t over, the last time he finished a month with 11 walks or fewer was June of last season, a month where he missed 5 games due to injury.

Even with his slumping, the Nats are 12-9 in July. Daniel Murphy is hitting .366 this month, and just jacked his 20th homer of the season. And his partner in crime has been none other than Trea Turner, the fastest man in the world, who has solidified his spot as the Nats leadoff man with his incredible speed. He has 3 triples in his last 7 games, is a perfect 5/5 in stolen bases, and his ability to get around the bases is second to none. His speed is absolutely game changing- for example just last week he beat out a routine grounder to short.

Hopefully Bryce can snap out of this slump, because baseball isn’t too fun for him right now.