6 – Harper receives unanimous NL MVP
This was a particularly difficult moment to rank among the best in the career of Bryce Harper. Overall, it was the 2015 season he had for the Washington Nationals that was incredible and his performances throughout the year will live long in the memory.
But seeing as it’s tough to class a whole season as a moment, Harper receiving the award to begin the 2016 season sums it up nicely for the outfielder and his hometown fans. General Manager Mike Rizzo presented him with his unanimous award on the field along with the Silver Slugger Award he earned in the same season.
Harper’s 2015 season consisted of a .330 batting average, .460 on-base percentage, a ludicrous 1.109 OPS, as well as 118 runs, 42 home runs, and 99 RBI. His 10.0 bWAR leads all single-season figures in franchise history, which includes the Montreal Expos days.
His MVP award was particularly special because he was able to do so at such a young age. At 22 years and 353 days old, he’s the youngest to ever unanimously win an MVP award. The only others who won the award at a younger age were Vida Blue in 1971, Johnny Bench in 1970 and Stan Musial in 1943.
While he hasn’t quite lived up to that standard since 2015, mostly through injuries, at just 26 years old, you wouldn’t bet against him getting back there. Hopefully, he’ll be doing so once again in a Nationals uniform in 2019 and beyond.