The "Mike Trout vs. Bryce Harper" Debate is Dead

[SlinkyRedfoot]

A good feeling, huh... How good is it? And where does it come from?

*Looks up Trout's stats, sees back-to-back 10-win seasons followed up by an 8-win season and a 7-win season.

*Looks up Harper's stats, sees that this is the only season worth more than 5 wins, still may not catch either of Trouts 10-win years.

You're gonna have a hard time convincing me that Harper's 2015 campaign hasn't been -- by a good margin -- the best either of these two have had.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

Someone posted somewhere on here that the giants have the best team WAR in the majors this year. I haven't verified it because frankly, I don't put a lot of stock in a metric that is calculated differently by different publications, but of it's true, the giants' record compared to the rest of the league would seem to punch some serious holes in the validity of WAR.

 

[navamind]

Someone posted somewhere on here that the giants have the best team WAR in the majors this year. I haven't verified it because frankly, I don't put a lot of stock in a metric that is calculated differently by different publications, but of it's true, the giants' record compared to the rest of the league would seem to punch some serious holes in the validity of WAR.

Giants are up there, but that's mostly from their position players. Giants currently have five players worth 3.5+ WAR (per Fangraphs). A good chunk of the Giants' pitching WAR comes from Bumgarner. Outside of Heston/Bumgarner, they've gotten replacement level (or worse) pitching from the rest of their rotation.

 

[Villain]

You're gonna have a hard time convincing me that Harper's 2015 campaign hasn't been -- by a good margin -- the best either of these two have had.

Harper 2015 > Trout 2015

Trout's first two seasons are still better than this season from Harper.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

Harper 2015 > Trout 2015

Trout's first two seasons are still better than this season from Harper.

Here's the slash lines:

Trout 2012: .326/.399/.564/.963/168
Trout 2013: .323/.432/.557/.988/179

Harper 2015: .336/.468/.646/1.114/200

You can cherry pick Trout's best BA, OBP, SLG, OPS and OPS+ from those two seasons and Harper's 2015 beats them.

Yeah, there's defense and base running, but you're going to need a lot of that shit to make up the significant difference at the plate.

 

[StanMarsh51]

Harper 2015 > Trout 2015

Trout's first two seasons are still better than this season from Harper.

I don't know about that, considering Harper's arguably having the best MLB offensive season since Bonds.

 

[Villain]

Yeah, there's defense and base running, but you're going to need a lot of that shit to make up the significant difference at the plate.

Major League Leaderboards » 2015 » Batters » Dashboard | FanGraphs Baseball

You're absolutely right about the offensive production, and that Trout would need to bring up a ton of defensive value and elite baserunning to make up the difference.

That's exactly it, though. 49 and 33 stolen bases simply cannot be ignored and he was a vacuum cleaner out there in the field. His defense and baserunning were that good.

These two guys are insane. Love that they're living up to the hype.

 

[DragonfromTO]

Someone posted somewhere on here that the giants have the best team WAR in the majors this year. I haven't verified it because frankly, I don't put a lot of stock in a metric that is calculated differently by different publications, but of it's true, the giants' record compared to the rest of the league would seem to punch some serious holes in the validity of WAR.

Bbref has them with 33.7 total WAR so far. A replacement level team would have 39.8 wins in 138 games, so the Giants' 71 wins would seem to be pretty close to the 73.5 wins that (bbref's version of) WAR estimates for them

 

[navamind]

Bbref has them with 33.7 total WAR so far. A replacement level team would have 39.8 wins in 138 games, so the Giants' 71 wins would seem to be pretty close to the 73.5 wins that (bbref's version of) WAR estimates for them

WAR has a pretty good correlation with actual wins and losses.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

I am an Angels fan & a little bit of a Nats fan so I like them both, and they should both do well moving forward. However - could someone please tell me what has happened to Trout since the beginning of August? He has been terrible during that time. Supposedly - he hurt his wrist a bit in late July, but he really has not missed any or much time since that pt. Just looking for some clarification since I have not seen many of their games lately.

 

[Mondo Jay]

I am an Angels fan & a little bit of a Nats fan so I like them both, and they should both do well moving forward. However - could someone please tell me what has happened to Trout since the beginning of August? He has been terrible during that time. Supposedly - he hurt his wrist a bit in late July, but he really has not missed any or much time since that pt. Just looking for some clarification since I have not seen many of their games lately.

The wrist must have been bothering him. Those injuries tend to linger.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

 

[Rex Racer]

I'll drink to that.

Spoiler

View attachment 26466

At least the guy in the photo isn't texting while he drives.

Safety first.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

The wrist must have been bothering him. Those injuries tend to linger.

Thanks. His numbers have been a little better recently but not by much. Meanwhile - the team has been given every opportunity to make a move but chokes every time that they are close. At the same time Harper has been having a ridiculous month.

 

[HammerDown]

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

I thought the debate was dead?

 

[HammerDown]

I thought the debate was dead?

It is. I'm not even debating anymore. Just posting facts.

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

It is. I'm not even debating anymore. Just posting facts.

I guess you're referring to a debate about which player has done more so far, which is clearly goes in Trout's favor.

Going forward, the fact that Harper's 2015 is better than any of Trout's season indicates that the debate of which career is going to be better is just heating up.

 

[Blitzville]

Yeah, this isn't even a debate. Trout is going to go down as an all-time great and Harper is gonna be remembered more for his immaturity than being a good player.

EOT

 

[SlinkyRedfoot]

EOT

If it's true that people aren't recognizing that he's a good player, that's a shame.

Ranked by OPS+, there're only nineteen players in the history of the game that have had better offensive seasons than Harper's 2015 campaign.