Where is Bryce Now? List of Home Run Greats
It's been a while since I have logged the stats of this still young star.
I was consistently chronicling his home run totals, comparing him to the others players of major league baseball who had stopped (more often than not retired) at their home run totals.
I am now updating where he is on the list. Notably, he is close to surpassing my favorite all-time player Tim Raines Senior (1979-2002), who was inducted into the Cooperstown Hall of Fame last year (2017). Rock Raines was not a home run hitter as his primary talent. Raines was known for his hitting, on base percentage, and his speed. One of the best of all time.
Bryce is no slow poke, and his OBP is probably much higher than Raines due to the fear of the power he has and the amount of intentional and unintended walks he draws.
Harper is now at 165 career homers, tied for 443 all time in his seventh year. He is currently also tied with a contemporary hitter, Colby Rasmus, who is in his 10th year.
Nationals are hoping against hope that Bryce does not sign with the New York Yankees or anyone else in this, his last contract year as a seventh year player.
Here is a portion of the list Bryce is located at, with others that he passed up going back to the top 500 of all time.
He is going into today's Interstate rivalry with Baltimore leading the majors in home runs with 16. His batting percentage is down but he is still getting a lot of walks for high OBP.
Colby Rasmus, now with the Orioles, is in his 10th season (started in 2009) and is tied with Bryce all time. But not for long. At age 31 he is not getting much playing time on a poor team, has zero homers so far, and only hit 9 last year. Mr. Rasmus may be looking at the tail end of a big league career if things do not change for his status.
Jose Cruz played a long career (1970-1988) but never hit more than 17 home runs in a season. His overall longevity and productivity allowed him to arrive at 165.
Jaque Jones managed 10 years of play with the same home run tally, playing from 1999-2008.
Some notable active players slightly behind Bryce's current HR total that are powerful players with comparable home run numbers:
Alex Gordon (12 years), age 34: 164 career homers
Pedro Alvarez (9 years), age 31: 162 career homers
Yoenis Cespedes (7 years), age 32:162 career homers
Kyle Seager (8 years), age 30: 161 career homers
Ben Zobrist (13 years), age 37: 159 career homers
Chris Carter (8 years), age 31: 158 career homers
Khris Davis (6 years), age 30: 158 career homers
Brian Dozier (7 years), age 31: 158 career homers
Nolan Arenado (6 years), age 27: 157 career homers
Manny Machado (7 years), age 25 153 career homers
Of the ten active players close in totals behind Bryce, eight are already in their thirties and will not go much further in doubling those numbers, being lucky if they make it to career 300 home runs. The other two, namely Arenado and Machado, could compete with Bryce Harper for the next decade plus as they are young like him.
All three might push each other to reach 300, 400, 500, and beyond in career homers.
Aaron Judge and a few other power hitters are the current de jeur home run hitters of the league. Judge, for one, is very new. ( Less than three years in the majors, age 26, 70 total home runs).
If Bryce ever does become the overall home run king, he will have to maintain his health, for sure.
For the end of May 2018, tied for 443 all-time is pretty good for age 25.
If he continues at a solid pace this season he could reach 352nd all time by October (about 195 total). Not too shabby for a 26-year-old.
But the watch continues....
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