“Bryce Harper is overrated” has always been a very silly stance to take and it looks particularly silly today because the 22-year-old Nationals right fielder has hit a home run in each of his first three at-bats against the Marlins.
Harper is now hitting .268 with .419 on-base percentage and .567 slugging percentage on the season, including seven home runs and a league-leading 26 walks. He won’t be 23 years old until mid-October and is currently the fourth-youngest player in the National League.
He’s also the third-youngest player in National League history to hit three home runs in a game--trailing only Hall of Famers Eddie Mathews and Mel Ott--and the youngest player in either league to homer three times in a game since 1969.
And here’s a list of all the players since 1985 with at least 1,500 plate appearances and an adjusted OPS+ of at least 120 through age 22:
Bryce Harper
Mike Trout
Miguel Cabrera
Alex Rodriguez
Ken Griffey Jr.
UPDATE: Harper failed to homer in his fourth at-bat, settling for an RBI ground out. What a bum.
First homer:
[mlbvideo id="103636483" width="400" height="224" /]
Second homer:
[mlbvideo id="103642183" width="400" height="224" /]
Third homer:
[mlbvideo id="103656883" width="400" height="224" /]