Bryce Harper Blasting in 2016

                Bryce Harper Blasting in 2016

Bryce Harper is the reigning NL. MVP and is cranking out better stats in 2016!

 Tuesday Harper put some pizza in the works with a Papa Grand Slam off of Miami Marlins lefty Chris Narveson. 

In the 7th inning Harper sent it over the wall and plated 4 RBI's leading the Nationals to a 7-0 win.

When Mike Trout and Bryce Harper came into action at 19 the 2 were a sensation of rookie stardom but Mike Trout has been squeezing Bryce Harper out of the Limelight with his sensational athleticism in the outfield and at bat. This year he is having a rough start and Bryce Harper is starting show the star quality he lacked in 2014.

Bryce's 7th home run and 5th in his last 6 games is second to shortstop Trevor Stories hot rookie start for Colorado Rockies, who leads the NL with eight. Bryce Harper has more home runs than he has struck out with 7 HR's and 6 K's 

Early indications show Harper's discipline at the plate has vastly improved. According to PITCHF/x data at FanGraphs, Harper is making more contact on pitches in the strike zone and swinging at fewer pitches out of the zone. Such a combination of plate discipline and power would put Harper in the company of sluggers like Miguel Cabrera.

Statistic: 2016 | 2015

Home runs: 7 | 4

RBI: 20 | 7

Batting average: .333 | .267

Slugging percentage: .867 |  .556

On-base  slugging percentage: 1.295 | .996

Strikeout percentage: 10.7% | 32.1%

Average exit velocity: 93.5 mph | 91.6 mph

TREVOR STORY IS WIELDING THE HAMMER WHILE NOAH SYNGAARD IS DROPPING THE HAMMER

         The MLB season is a mere five days old, but there's still been plenty to talk about, from rookie sensations to unhittable pitchers to questionable rules.

         Story-book start for Trevor Story the Colorado rookie shortstop is tied for the major league lead with four home runs and seven RBIs through three games, and he's been re-writing the record books along the way.First, he became the only player ever to homer twice in his major league debut on opening day. Next, he became the first NL player to follow a two-homer debut with another home run in his second game since Charlie Reilly of the Colombus Solons did it in 1889. On Wednesday he hit his fourth homer, becoming the first player in the modern era (since 1900) to go deep in each of his first three games.
        With Jose Reyes's status in limbo due to his domestic violence case, Story seized the Rockies' starting shortstop job with a strong spring training where he hit six home runs and batted .340. He doesn't seem willing to relinquish it any time soon. Reyes might be getting a little nervous. To date Rockies shortstop Trevor Story now has seven home runs in six career games. His homer came off Padres reliever Brandon Maurer in the eighth, and gave Colorado a 5–3 lead. It traveled 425 feet.     

       Not a man on this earth' can hit Thor's slider        

      Noah Syndergaard opened his season with a 2-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, pitching six shutout innings with nine strikeouts. But the story of the game was his slider. It's a pitch he hardly threw last season (only 11 of his 166 strikeouts came on sliders last season), but Syndergaard punched out six Royals with it on Tuesday.
Royals manager Ned Yost was left stunned.
       "He threw [Kendrys Morales] 95-, 93-, 93-mph sliders," Yost said. "There's not a man on this earth who could hit those. I even asked George [Brett], 'Do you think you could even foul one of those off?' He said, 'No way.'" With Syndergaard's already electric fastball and devastating curveball, adding an otherworldly slider to his repertoire would almost make him unfair.
      Syndergaard, nicknamed "Thor" for his long blond hair, pitches in a rotation with stars Matt Harvey and Jacob DeGrom, but with his lethal stuff, he might just be the best of the bunch and rapidly on his way to becoming one of the best in the game.