It’s been four years since Bryce Harper was this bad at the plate

It’s been a pretty fantastic run for Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper. The 23-year-old is coming off an MVP-caliber season in which he established himself as the best hitter in the game, and is on pace to pretty much repeat himself this year.

[Join a Yahoo Daily Fantasy Baseball contest now]

It’s pretty rare these days to see Harper look lost at the plate, is what we’re trying to say. Baseball can be a humbling game, though, and even the best of the best are subject to suffering its wrath.

That’s precisely what happened to Harper Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals. The slugger accomplished something he has not managed to do in nearly four years during the contest. Problem is, it was one of those things he would rather forget. For the first time since August 21, 2012, Harper struck out four times in a single game.

Harper isn’t really a stranger to whiffs. He struck out 120 times during his rookie season, and had more or less continued to post similar strikeout rates even though his exceptional 2015. During those four years, he struck out in roughly 20 percent of his plate appearances, according to FanGraphs.

Because it was Harper, he managed to work some deep counts in each at-bat before his strikeouts. Harper saw five pitches in his first two at-bats, three in his third and seven in his fourth. Even in an awful game, there’s still some positive: He made the opposing pitchers work.

While it’s still early, Harper seemed to be cutting down on his whiffs this year. Coming into Sunday’s game, he had a 13.5 percent strikeout rate. That would have been the 31st lowest rate in baseball last season. That’s a similar strikeout rate to guys like A.J. Pollock and Dee Gordon did last season, and those players aren’t really known for whiffing.

Following his no good, very bad day, Harper’s strikeout rate jumped to 17 percent. That’s still under his 20.6 percent career rate, but it’s a lot less impressive than his excellent 13.5 percent performance prior to Sunday.

Still, you have to hand it to Harper. There’s no weakness in his game at the plate, but if you had to nitpick, strikeouts would be the one thing Harper does that makes him look human. He’s clearly made an effort to cut down on them, and it was working prior to Sunday’s contest.

Even if that’s just small sample nonsense and he returns to his former rate, it won’t really matter. Harper posted one of the best offensive seasons we’ve seen since Barry Bonds in 2015.

[Elsewhere: Why were the Astros so bad in April?]

It’s insane to think Harper can get better in any way, but that’s certainly how things were looking coming into Sunday. This particular game may have been a setback, but Harper still somehow has a chance to get better at the plate this year. That should be a harrowing thought for pitchers everywhere.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports: