Has Bryce Harper Taken the Title of MLB’s Best First Baseman?
Sportsgrid Staff
Host · Writer
When Major League Baseball released the first update on All-Star Game voting last week, Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies had a somewhat commanding lead at first base in the National League, with more than 1.1 million votes, as opposed to the 713,858 votes for his top competitor: Freddie Freeman of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
With Harper on pace to make the All-Star Game for the eighth time, has the 31-year-old — in his first entire season at his new position — seized the crown as the best first baseman in baseball?
At least as far as the 2024 season has gone, it’s pretty hard to argue that anyone has been better at the position than Harper. Among all qualified first basemen in MLB, Harper owns the top marks in terms of slugging percentage (.558), OPS (.955), wRC+ (163), wOBA (.403), and fWAR (3.5). His 18 home runs rank second behind Josh Naylor of the Cleveland Guardians (20).
You hang it, Bryce bangs it.
pic.twitter.com/Q4Et1N8g3z— Phillies Nation (@PhilliesNation) June 22, 2024
Speaking as someone who covers Harper daily, he’s not a finished product defensively at first base. He’s still refining some finer details of playing first base, like which foot to put on the bag, when to lay out on a grounder or defer to the second baseman, etc.
Still, only Christian Walker of the Arizona Diamondbacks has more outs above average (OAA) among first basemen than Harper’s six, so if this is the baseline for him at the position, that’s pretty remarkable.
Freeman is having another tremendous season for the Dodgers, with 21 doubles, 46 RBIs, and a .901 OPS. Like Harper, he’s a former MVP on track for his eighth All-Star Game appearance. And like Harper, Freeman will probably one day have a plaque in Cooperstown.
Considering Freeman finished third in NL MVP voting last season, it’s hardly a hot take if you give him a slight edge over Harper when ranking MLB first basemen. Freeman will turn 35 in September, so it’s fair to wonder how much longer he can keep up his peak production. But so far, there’s been no slippage from the three-time Silver Slugger Award winner.
Matt Olson has had a relatively disappointing season after leading baseball with 54 home runs and 139 RBIs a year ago, but he has heated up in a big way in June, with an .842 OPS. Olson was very much in the discussion for the top first baseman before the 2024 season, and with a big second half, he could reinsert himself in the debate after the regular season.
Matt Olson CRUSHES a two-run homer to tie this baby up! pic.twitter.com/3xQbZulc0m
— Just Baseball (@JustBB_Media) June 13, 2024
With all due respect to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Ryan Mountcastle, there is clearly a power imbalance between the leagues in terms of first basemen, with the bulk of the best players at the position currently in the NL.
That makes the idea of Walker, Pete Alonso, and Paul Goldschmidt being moved before the July 30 trade deadline an intriguing possibility. Among AL contenders, the Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, and Guardians could all look to add a first base/DH type.
For now, though, almost all of the game’s elite first basemen play in the NL, with Harper, Freeman, and Olson at the top of the list.
The post Has Bryce Harper Taken the Title of MLB’s Best First Baseman? appeared first on Just Baseball.
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