Nationals star Harper off to smashing start after down year
WEST PALM BEACH , Fla. (AP) Nationals manager Dusty Baker discerns a difference in Bryce Harper at the plate this spring compared with the guy who struggled mightily for much of last season.
It's not his current home run binge - that's simply a byproduct of Harper's success, and a pleasant one at that.
''He's not missing pitches,'' Baker said. ''The last couple days, he's not missing pitches and he's not fouling balls off. When you're not doing well, a lot of times you're fouling balls off that you should putting play, whether it's a line-drive home run or a popup or something.''
Harper had homered in three straight games for Washington before going 0 for 1 against Detroit on Monday. Five of his eight spring hits have been homers and he's added a double for good measure.
Harper also drew a four-pitch walk from Tigers ace Justin Verlander in a 3-3, 10-inning tie. The four-time All-Star outfielder is hitting .313 in exhibition play and began the day tied with San Diego's Jabari Blash for the spring training lead in home runs.
''He looks good. He looks real good,'' Baker said.
Harper only hit two homers last spring after winning the 2015 NL MVP award. Once he left Florida, though, Harper turned it on, swatting nine homers by the end of April while hitting .286.
''Without Bryce last year, there's no way we'd have gotten off to the start that we had last year,'' Baker said.
That surge didn't last. Harper never hit more than four homers in any given month the remainder of the way and only mashed five after the All-Star break. His .226 average in the second half dropped Harper's season average to .243, easily the lowest of his five-year major league career. He finished with 24 homers and 86 RBIs for the NL East champions.
The previous season, Harper hit .330 with 42 home runs and 99 RBIs.
Harper's futility fueled speculation that he was playing through an injury, but he maintained publicly that there was nothing physically wrong with him.
''To me, he was (swinging) underneath and missing a lot of balls, fouling them off,'' Baker said.
Teammates are hoping that Harper's spring foreshadows a resurgence at the plate.
''As far as health-wise, the way his body looks - and I think that's the most important thing - he looks great,'' first baseman Ryan Zimmerman said.
A strong spring often indicates the return of much-needed confidence for a player coming off a down year.
That might not be the case for Harper.
''Confidence ain't his problem,'' Baker said. ''Confidence might be some other guys' problems, but I think he was probably born confident.''
