Harper needs to average 23.9 home runs per season for the duration of his Phillies contract to reach 500 for his career. The pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign limited Harper to 13 home runs in 58 games, and injuries to his elbow and thumb limited him to 18 home runs in 99 games in 2022. The issue for Harper is going to be games played, which have kept him from making up more ground in recent seasons. He’s averaged 33 home runs per 162 games in his career, and, with nine seasons left on his 13-year deal in Philadelphia, he has time to reach the 215 long balls remaining.ĥ Phillies land on Audacy’s countdown of top 10 players at each position But due to both injury and a shortened 2020 season, the 30-year-old’s path there will not be easy.Įntering his 12th season in the bigs, Harper sits at 285 career home runs in the regular season. After winning NL Rookie of the Year as a 19-year-old in 2012 and putting up a 42-homer MVP campaign as a 22-year-old in 2015 for the Nationals, there was a time where it appeared as if Harper was destined to join that list. Once thought of as the benchmark for a premier Hall of Fame power hitter, there are 28 members of the 500 home run club in the history of the major leagues. The one milestone that could be missing for him that other sluggers of his caliber do have, however, is eclipsing the 500 career home run mark. With two NL MVPs, seven All-Star selections and now a dominant postseason run under his belt, Harper has built a resume that should land him in Cooperstown when his playing days conclude. His game-winning, eighth-inning drive into the left-field seats in Game 5 of the 2022 NLCS not only sent the Phillies to the World Series for the first time since 2009, but presented itself as the signature moment for one of baseball’s biggest stars and a likely future Hall of Famer. (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire)Īs the dust settled following the most iconic home run of Bryce Harper’s career, the significance of the play started to come into perspective. It doesn’t sound like the Reds, Orioles or Blue Jays were one of them, but regardless, their curiosity only underscores the widespread interest that Nola generated around the league before returning to the only organization he’s ever known.Bryce Harper has 285 career home runs in 11 seasons. Nola reportedly turned down more money - either in AAV or total contract value - from other clubs to stay in Philadelphia. However, Passan said that like the Orioles, a trade perhaps makes more sense for the Reds. Passan also reports that the Cincinnati Reds “dabbled in the Nola negotiations,” pointing out that none of their returning starters has ever thrown 150 innings - something Nola has done every full season beginning in 2017. But perhaps Nola could’ve been among the missing pieces to help Toronto get over the hump, with its own talented core losing in the AL Wild Card Series three of the past four seasons (and missing the postseason in the other). Nicholson-Smith wrote that the Jays aren’t among the teams most desperate for starting pitching, with a rotation already featuring Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Yusei Kikuchi and Chris Bassitt. The Blue Jays, who drafted Nola out of high school in 2011 before he went to LSU instead, would’ve been an interesting landing spot. But Nola was one of the top arms in the current free-agent class, and his market was awfully competitive - so the Orioles’ interest might indicate somewhat of a shift in perspective from the ownership standpoint, however slight. Anyone doubting Baltimore’s willingness to pay up on a pitcher like Nola is certainly justified in doing so, until the team demonstrates otherwise. The cynical view holds that perhaps the Orioles weren’t ever that serious in the Nola sweepstakes in the first place, given their stingy track record. If there was ever a time to spend - especially in the pitching department, where the Orioles struggled last year - it’s now. The Orioles had the third-lowest payroll in MLB this year, according to Spotrac, and the young core that won 101 games figures to make the team competitive for years to come. On one hand, perhaps it indicates a newfound willingness to invest on big-ticket free agents by a Peter and John Angelos-led ownership group that seldom does so. The Orioles’ interest can be viewed through a couple different lenses. The Phillies beat out several suitors in re-signing Aaron Nola to his seven-year, $172 million contract, and you can add two more teams to the list of clubs who reportedly had interest in the righty: the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles, according to Sportsnet‘s Ben Nicholson-Smith and ESPN‘s Jeff Passan, respectively. Aaron Nola re-signed with the Phillies for seven years, $172 million.
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