Bryce Harper WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 07: Bryce Harper #34 of the Washington Nationals bats against the Miami Marlins in the ninth inning of the Nationals opening day game at Nationals Park on April 7, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)

On Sunday, Marlins hitting coach Barry Bonds created some waves when he said that reigning NL MVP Bryce Harper doesn’t compare to him…yet. Well, of course he doesn’t, Barry.

Here’s the full quote from Bonds, via MLB.com’s Bill Ladson.

“He is a beast. [But] he doesn’t compare to me yet. He has a long way to go [in order to be compared] to me. He is not even close to me. But he is one hell of a ballplayer. I watch him, I admire and I look at him and I’m in awe. You don’t see that often.

And that’s true – Harper’s in his fifth season in the majors, and has totaled just 514 career games and 2,161 plate appearances. Over his illustrious career, Bonds played in 2,986 games and stepped to the plate 12,606 times. Harper is a sixth of the way there!

It’s also worth remembering that Bonds was drafted by the Pirates out of Arizona State, and he debuted in the majors during his age 21 season, just a couple of months before turning 22. Harper was drafted out of a junior college by the Nationals (despite being only 17) and debuted in the majors at 19. So in terms of actual playing time and performance to date, Harper’s got Bonds beat.

During his age 21 and 22 seasons in the majors, Bonds hit .245/.329/.460, good for a 110 OPS+ in the era, with 41 homers and 68 steals. Excluding his breakout MVP campaign last year, from age 19-21 in the majors, Harper hit .272/.351/.465, good for a 121 OPS+, with 55 homers and 31 steals.

But let’s be honest here – it’s not the early years of Bonds’ career that made him a legend. From 1990-1998, Bonds’ age 25-33 seasons, he hit .305/.438/.600 with 327 homers and 328 stolen bases. He made eight All-Star Teams over those nine seasons, won eight Gold Glove awards, captured six Silver Sluggers, took home three NL MVP awards, and finished in the top five of MVP voting another four times.

Then, of course, he closed out his career with an ungodly run from 2000-2004 that saw him win another four MVP awards under the cloud of performance enhancing drugs.

That’s all in front of Harper. Comparing a 23-year old Bryce Harper to Barry Bonds is foolish, because Barry Bonds was *BARRY BONDS* at age 23. Harper finished his age 22 season last year with 97 career homers, a total exceeded by only seven players in MLB history. One of those players was not Barry Bonds.

Eddie Mathews, Mel Ott, and Frank Robinson are all in the Hall of Fame. Alex Rodriguez won’t be there (at least, not yet) because of PED issues. Tony Conigliaro’s career was unexpected derailed by injury. The future is still murky for Trout and Harper, along with Giancarlo Stanton (who hit 93 homers from ages 20-22).

Bryce Harper might have a career comparable to Barry Bonds when all is said and done in 15 or 20 years – but right now, it’s impossible to tell. After all, over his first four seasons, Bonds ranked 30th among all MLB outfielders in wOBA and 27th in wRC+. Over his first four years, Harper ranked fourth in both categories. Right now, it’s way too soon to tell if Harper’s career will go the route of Bonds’, or the route of say, Danny Tartabull’s.

Only time will tell, but given Harper’s success at such a young age, comparing him to Bonds in the future may not be too far out of bounds.

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.