Bryce Harper CHICAGO, IL – MAY 08: Bryce Harper #34 of the Washington Nationals is intentionally walked in the12th inning as David Ross #3 of the Chicago Cubs waits the pitch at Wrigley Field on May 8, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

During Sunday’s Nationals-Cubs game at Wrigley Field, the Cubs were very delicate when Bryce Harper came to the plate. Harper stepped up to the dish seven times, and reached all seven times. However, he never swung the bat once – the Cubs walked Harper six times, and plunked him once.

No batter in MLB history had ever recorded seven plate appearances and zero official at bats during a game before Harper did on Sunday.

Before Harper did it on Sunday, only three players had ever walked six times in an MLB game – Jimmie Foxx in 1938, Andre Thornton in 1984, and Jeff Bagwell in 1999. Thornton and Bagwell accomplished their feats in 16 inning games, while Foxx did it in a standard nine inning game.

Harper was also intentionally walked three times by the Cubs. That’s happened plenty of times, most recently last July when the Rockies performed the feat against Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart. You know, *that* Tucker Barnhart, the one with a .244/.311/.314 career line. It also happened last season to Miguel Cabrera and Paul Goldschmidt, two much more capable hitters.

Barry Bonds was intentionally walked three times in a game 16 times. But he never walked six times in a game, and he never accomplished Harper’s bizarre feat of “seven plate appearances, zero at bats”.

All in all on Sunday, Harper saw a total of 27 pitches. He swung at zero of them. Two were called strikes. He reached base seven times.

On the season, the 2015 NL MVP is hitting .265/.432/.633. He’s sixth in baseball in on-base percentage, and no one else in the top ten in the league has a batting average lower than .305. Incredibly, Harper doesn’t lead the league in either walks or walk rate – Paul Goldschmidt edges him in both categories with 33 walks and a 22.8% walk rate.

Overall this weekend against the Cubs, Harper had 19 plate appearances…and walked 13 times. His line for the four game series? .250/.789/.250. Nearly 80% of Harper’s plate appearances ended with him on base, and he scored a total of three runs.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s time for Dusty Baker to shake Washington’s lineup up a little bit. Ryan Zimmerman has been the Nationals cleanup hitter, right behind Harper, in every game he’s played this year. He’s hitting just .236/.293/.340, has only one home run, and has driven in 12 runs. Those 12 RBI are tied for fifth on the team, despite the fact that the guy in front of him is on base 43% of the time.

As long as Zimmerman isn’t hitting or Baker doesn’t move a better hitter like Daniel Murphy or Wilson Ramos behind Harper in the order, teams are going to continue to treat Harper like Joe Maddon and the Cubs did this weekend.

About Joe Lucia

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