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San Francisco Giants: 3 Stats That Show Bryce Harper’s Potential Impact

By Daniel Sperry

SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 12: Kris Bryant #17 of the Chicago Cubs, Bryce Harper #34 of the Washington Nationals and Buster Posey #28 of the San Francisco Giants warm up prior to the 87th Annual MLB All-Star Game at PETCO Park on July 12, 2016 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 12: Kris Bryant #17 of the Chicago Cubs, Bryce Harper #34 of the Washington Nationals and Buster Posey #28 of the San Francisco Giants warm up prior to the 87th Annual MLB All-Star Game at PETCO Park on July 12, 2016 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /
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WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 26: Bryce Harper #34 of the Washington Nationals jogs off the field during the end of the third inning against the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park on September 26, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

One of the biggest thing that plagued the Giants offense in 2018 was their ability to hit with runners in scoring position. They were once of the worst teams in baseball at it, posting a .239 average w/RISP. That’s horrendous. 24 of their 133 homers came w/RISP, so they hit 109 solo homers. Yikes.

Granted just having some higher OBP around would help that out a bit. But throwing in Bryce’s OBP of nearly .400, his heavy on base presence would sure help that out quite a bit. But what about what he  does w/RISP, and how does that compare to what McCutchen did in 2018?

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With Runners in scoring position in 2018, McCutchen slashed .224/.362/.411/.779. His numbers without any runners on base were significantly better. He brought in 42 runs w/RISP as well. What did Bryce do in 2018?

Harper hit .290/.458/.524/.982 with runners in scoring position in 2018, all significantly higher than his numbers without runners on base. Surprisingly though, he only hit 6 of his 34 homers with runners on base. So how much were non-Harper National’s getting on base?

Well, if you subtract Harper’s numbers from the National’s totals, their team OBP for 2018 drops nearly 30 points, and from second in the league to within the bottom five.

Lesson? Harper’s OBP, and ability to hit with Runners in Scoring Position was almost transformative. If you take them away, their offense turns from a top 5 offense to a slightly below average offense.

Next. 5 Giants Prospects to watch in 2019

Now the Giants do not have as great of a supporting cast as the Nationals did, at least in terms of offensive production. However, it will be very intriguing to see where they land in 2019 without Harper in their lineup, as opposed to just removing his numbers from the equation. And if the Giants were to actually have Harper in the lineup, it would be incredibly intriguing to see what happens to the numbers of everyone around him.

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