ESPN says Bryce Harper is already the 85th best player of all-time

Everyone loves a good sports argument. You know, the kind of argument that emerges when you’re bored sitting around with your friends. If you had to pick one pitcher to start Game 7 of the World Series, who would it be? Who’s the one player you would build a team around? Who are the top-10 players in the league?

If you enjoy taking part in those, you’re going to love this one. According to ESPN, Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper is the 85th best player in baseball … of all-time.

We will give you a second to pick your jaw up off the floor.

Bryce Harper has been good over his career, but he has move to prove. (Getty Images/Mike Stobe)

Good? OK. Let’s get back to it.

Harper’s placement on the list is part of ESPN’s #MLBRank project. The list was voted on by a panel of ESPN experts. According to the site, ESPN used head-to-head match ups to determine the top-100 players of all-time.

To create our list, an ESPN expert panel voted on thousands of head-to-head matchups of 162 players, based on both peak performance and career value.

Harper’s ranking at 85th all-time is, obviously, crazy! Despite what critics say, Harper has had a phenomenal career up to this point, even emerging as the best player in baseball last season. The fact that he’s been able to do this despite his age is incredible.

Even with that said, nope … there’s just no way he sniffs the top-100 just yet.

Harper is just half-way through his fifth year in the majors. He just hasn’t played enough to justify that spot. On top of that, two of those years were cut short by injury.

In fairness, ESPN has addressed the ranking. Senior writer Eddie Matz wrote a post explaining why he doesn’t think Harper belongs on the list. Many of his reasons make sense.

Matz touches on this in his piece, but if Harper is truly the player he showed last season, then he’s well on his way to being one of the best of all-time. While he’s still showing excellent on-base and slugging skills this season, his .252 batting average is a let down. Is he having a terrible year? No. Is he having an MVP-caliber season? No.

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With all that said, Harper has played well enough to make this list down the road. By WAR, he’s been the 18th best hitter ever from his age-19 season until now. That puts him slightly above Cal Ripken and Albert Pujols when they were 23 years old. Yeah, that’s pretty impressive.

Of course, part of what made Ripken and Pujols legends is their longevity. They played at an extremely high level for a really long time. Harper has played at an above average level for four and half years, and then has one year of absolutely insane production. He needs to prove that he can continue to be at least above average, if not elite, over the next decade or so before he even sniffs this list.

Harper is certainly capable, and perhaps this list won’t seem as foolish in a few years. Right now, though, it seems extremely premature to put him among the best of all-time.

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