Phillies slugger Bryce Harper should be the first DH to win MVP

No designated hitter has ever won the MVP award. That should change this season — the first full season of the DH in the National League.

Because, if Bryce Harper continues to produce the way he’s producing now for the Phillies, pushing his team toward a playoff berth with little support from the lineup, he should be the NL MVP.

Again.

Harper won the National League MVP last year as the Phillies’ right fielder. He has been relegated to DH because of a torn ligament in his right (throwing) elbow, taking full advantage of the first season of the full-time DH rule adopted in the new collective bargaining agreement. For better or worse, the new rule will further legitimize an illegitimate concept. As such, Harper should take advantage.

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Full disclosure: I’m anti-DH. I was among the 22.1% of Hall of Fame voters who left first-time candidate David Ortiz off the ballot last year, but Ortiz got more than 75% of the vote despite acting as DH 84.2% of the time in his career. So, clearly, playing only 20 minutes a night matters little to this collection of Hall voters. It should, therefore, be just as unimportant in MVP candidacy.

Further disclosure: I won’t have the MVP vote in Philadelphia. And if I did, I wouldn’t vote for Harper, assuming he is only a DH the rest of the season. That’s the most likely outcome. The torn UCL in his right elbow is almost certain to keep him out of right field until 2023. However, with a brace to limit the extension of his injured elbow, Harper can still hit.

Man, can he hit.

Harper entered the weekend with a .325 batting average, which ranked fourth, and a 1.002 OPS, which ranked second.

He’s on pace to at least match his numbers from 2021, when he outpaced Nationals outfielder Juan Soto for his second MVP award.

Back to Ortiz: He finished in the top five of AL MVP voting from 2003-07, and he landed second twice, and 15 years have elapsed since Ortiz made his runs. Since Ortiz’s heyday, Frank Thomas, who DH’d about half of his career, was elected to the Hall in his first try in 2014. The Edgar Martinez lobby got him in on his last writer’s ballot, in 2019, and he DH’d about 70% of the time.

The DH profile has changed.

It helps Harper’s case that he’s been the centerpiece of the post-Joe Girardi surge.

Harper understatedly celebrated the firing of Girardi more than any other Phillie when, three games into a nine-game, post-firing winning streak, Harper sent this unsubtle message concerning decreased pressure and inclusion:

“Being able to put our trust in our young guys the last couple days and really let them just play.”

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Harper is hitting .390 with five home runs and 16 RBIs and a 1.174 OPS in his 17 games since Girardi’s exit. The Phillies are 14-3 in those games, and, overall, they’ve surged from seven games under .500 to three games over .500 and stand just 2½ games out of the final wild-card spot.

And he’s doing it in a tough East Coast city. If Harper pushes the Phillies into the playoffs for the first time in a decade, the fact that he’s not standing in right field will be diminished exponentially.

Perhaps the most compelling argument for Harper’s MVP candidacy is the abject failures among his star-studded “supporting” cast.

Leadoff batter Kyle Schwarber, a $79 million left-fielder, is hitting .218. Nick Castellanos, a $100 million non-fielder, has seven home runs and a career-worst .689 OPS. J.T. Realmuto, the $115 million catcher, has four homers and a career-worst .676 OPS. Second baseman Jean Segura, a .296 hitter since 2016, broke his finger May 31.

During Ortiz’s five years of MVP contention, either seven or eight regulars in the lineup had an OPS of at least .700.

Harper has two.

Paul Goldschmidt is Harper’s best competition for MVP. He has five active teammates with an OPS above .700.

Goldschmidt leads the league with a 1.048 OPS. He also plays in the field. It’s only first base, but he’s the best defensive first baseman since Todd Helton.

This might be Goldschmidt’s year, and deservedly so; he’s finished in the top six in MVP voting four times. He finished second twice. Goldschmidt’s Cardinals are one of five teams ahead of the Phillies in the wild-card race, but if Harper’s hitting fuels a surge past the Redbirds, that will only help his candidacy and will hurt Goldschmidt’s.

Besides, voters should consider that Harper’s doing it with one good arm — and almost no good teammates.