Good evening DoD readers, and welcome to today’s District Daily! Check out some great Washington Nationals articles from around the web below.
In today’s Daily, the Washington Post’s Aaron Dodson discusses Bryce Harper‘s push to make his third career All-Star Game appearance. As Dodson notes, Harper is not only pacing the rest of the National League in votes, but he also broke the NL voting record with 9,224,370 votes—crushing Buster Posey‘s previous record of 7,621,370 set in 2012.
For Nationals fans, the fact that Harper is tearing it up in all-star votes is not at all surprising. Harper’s been the heart and soul of the Nationals all season long and he’s emerged as one of the best players in the sport this season.
Three months into the season, Harper is not only the anchor of the Nationals’ lineup, but he’s also at or near the top of baseball’s leaderboards in almost every major offensive category. He’s already set a career-high in homers with 24 and his slugging percentage (.735) and OPS (1.208) are way above his career norms.
Harper is one of the hottest players in the game right now and he doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. While it’s not surprising that Harper is doing well in all-star voting, it’s incredible that he not only broke Posey’s record, but that he did it by nearly 2 million votes with a full week of voting still remaining.
More from Max Scherzer
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- Washington Nationals: How Did The Nats Do In The All-Star Game?
Barring any surprises, it looks like Harper is headed to the Midsummer’s Classic for the third time in four years. Voting for the All-Star Game will continue until midnight on July 2.
Also in today’s Daily, the Post’s James Wagner discusses how some players approach hitting against Nationals ace Max Scherzer. As Wagner notes, it’s not easy.
Be sure to check out the articles below, they’re definitely worth a read. And as always, stay tuned to DoD for all your Washington Nationals needs.
Bryce Harper sets NL all-star voting record
(Aaron Dodson, Washington Post)
On Tuesday, Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper set the all-time, single-season National League voting record for the All-Star Game with 9,224, 370 votes — and counting.
Harper bested the previous record of 7,621,370, set by San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey in 2012, with more than a week before the voting period ends on July 2 at 11:59 p.m. Read full article here.
How do you hit Max Scherzer? Even those who do can’t explain it.
(James Wagner, Washington Post)
Washington Nationals starter Max Scherzer has held right-handed batters to a .216 average over eight seasons in the majors. But on June 2, for the first time in his career, Scherzer gave up two home runs in a game to the same right-handed batter — Kevin Pillar of Toronto.
So how did Pillar, a career .255 hitter who had never faced Scherzer before, solve arguably the best starter in baseball this season?
“You give me a hundred more at-bats off him, I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to do what I did that day,” Pillar said. Read full article here.