Settling the Harper-Trout Debate

While its always fun to watch sports with a friend, its even more fun to have a heated argument about sports with a friend. In many ways, it seems that sports like baseball only exist so they can spark arguments and disagreements. Of these arguments, the most common among baseball fans is arguably the "who is better" argument. It is not enough for a player to be great. Instead, he must be compared to other players in order to be judged. This argument has always existed in baseball, and will exist as long as baseball is played. In the 1960s, I'm sure every baseball fan spent substantial time arguing over who was a better player: Micky Mantle or Willie Mays. The same discussion exists to day, except that it involves the two best young players in the game today: Mike Trout and Bryce Harper.

Through no fault of their own, Mike Trout and Bryce Harper will always be tied to one other. The "rivalry" between the two began on April 28, 2012, when they were called up from the minor leagues on the exact same day. That year, they established themselves as being two of the better players in baseball despite being absurdly young in age (Trout was 20 and Harper was 19).That year, they became only the 39th and 40th rookies to ever play in the MLB All Star Game, Harper being the youngest position player to ever appear in the game. They would both go on to win Rookie of the Year in their respective leagues, putting up 2 of the best rookie seasons of all time.

Since then, Trout and Harper have gone on to be the two biggest stars in baseball, despite being years younger than most major leaguers (the average age for an MLB player is 29.3). Despite their similar production on the field, their off the field reputations have become polar opposites of each other. Trout is widely viewed as the All-American boy. He keeps a smile on his face, doesn't say anything controversial, and plays an old-fashioned style on the field. As a result, Trout is one of the most well liked players in the game. Harper however, is widely viewed as a villain. He curses at umpires, showboats after he hits home runs, and acts like he doesn't give a damn about what anyone thinks of him. Harper has cultivated a "bad boy" image, and thus has become one of the more disliked players in baseball. When he plays on the road, it is not uncommon for Harper to be loudly booed by opposing fans.

Although Harper is routinely despised by most baseball fans, none of those fans would be foolish enough to say that Harper is not a great baseball player. The question is whether or not he is the best player in the game. The honorary title of "Best Player in Baseball" had long been held by Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers. However, as Cabrera has aged, he has clearly been surpassed by Trout and Harper. The question now is whether Harper or Trout should be considered to be the "Best Player in Baseball". Up until last year, Trout was considered to be superior to Harper. However, Harper's historic 2015 season has led many people to change their minds. Here, we'll do a definitive side-by-side comparison of the two players to finally decide who the better player is.

Bryce Harper

• 2012 National League Rookie of the Year
• 2015 National League Most Valuable Player. Yongest winner to ever be selected by unanimous decision.
• 2015 Silver Slugger Winner. 2015 Hank Aaron Award Winner
• Led the major leagues in almost every offensive category last year, including runs, home runs, on base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, and OPS+.
• Has been selected to the All Star Game in 3 out of his 4 seasons in the major leagues. 
• 3rd youngest player to be selected to the All Star Game. Youngest non-pitcher to ever be selected
• Is a year older than the average college senior, and already has 112 career home runs.
• Led the major leagues with a 9.9 Wins Above Replacement score, highest in the National League since Barry Bonds in 2004.
• Has a saved 32 runs in his career on defense, making him an above-average defensive right fielder.
• Had struggled to stay healthy before 2015.
• Career stats: .284/.386/.513
• Current 2016 stats: .254/..401/.480  1.8 WAR

Mike Trout

• 2012 American League Rookie of the Year
• 2014 American League Most Valuable Player (unanimously selected)
• 2012-2015 Silver Slugger Award Winner. 2014 Hank Aaron Award winner
• 2nd player to ever win Silver Slugger in each of his 1st 4 seasons
• 4-time All-Star (has been selected in each of his 4 MLB seasons)
• 2014, 2015 All Star Game Most Valuable Player
• Has had at least 7.9 WAR in each of his 4 seasons (8.0 is considered MVP-level)
• Led the American League in strikeouts in 2014
• Has a career Defensive Runs Saved of exactly 0 in CF., which means that he is considered to be an average center fielder.
• Career stats: .306/.399/.560
• Current 2016 stats: .319/.415/.572

As we can see, Harper and Trout each can fill a trophy case with the awards they have won in their young careers. In order to decide who is the better player, you must decide which is more valuable: quantity or quality. Trout has certainly had a more consistently great career so far, but Harper's 2015 season was better than any season that Trout has had so far. From my perspective, I'm inclined to take Trout's consistent greatness over Harper's unreal 2015 season. If Harper were to repeat the numbers that he put up last year, then this would be a very different conversation. However, Harper is having a mediocre season by his standards while Trout is having another MVP-type season. With that being said, I think Harper's mediocre stats can be attributed to the fact that he is not seeing good pitches to him due to the fact that he is in a poor Washington lineup. However, the fact remains that his numbers pale in comparison to Trout's. Add in the fact that Trout plays a more demanding defensive position in center field, and I think it is clear that Mike Trout is currently a superior player compared to Bryce Harper.