Bryce Harper Wins MVP
Bryce Harper has capped off his amazing 2021 by winning the 2021 NL MVP award, the second of his career. Harper beat out the Nationals Juan Soto and the Padres Fernando Tatis. The MVP is in addition to the Silver Slugger, and the Hank Aaron Award. He becomes the 6th Phillies player to win the award, and its the 8th MVP award won by a player in Phillies pinstripes. Harper joins Chuck Klein (1932) Jim Konstanty (1950) Mike Schmidt (1980,1981, and 1986) Ryan Howard (2006) and Jimmy Rollins (2007.)
Harper hit .309/.429/.615 while adding 35 home runs and 84 RBI. He also led the league in doubles with 42. He has been as advertised since he joined the Phillies in the stressful offseason of 2019 which saw Harper decide to sign with the Phillies on a 13 year, $330 million dollar deal. On the surface, that is a HUGE number, but in reality it equates to $23.5 million a year. He was the 18th highest paid player in the game. And he earned every penny.
The Phillies didnt make the playoffs, and kind of wasted an historic year from Harper, and Zach Wheeler, but the good news is the last time the Phillies had a player win MVP they won the World Series the very next year.
