Bryce Harper: 10 Low Points so Far in Harper's Rookie Season

Bryce Harper has taken the baseball world by storm since being called up at the end of April.

Everything he does gets national attention and rightly so—he's already one of the most exciting players in the game today.

From stealing home to racking up extra-base hit after extra-base hit, Harper is proving to us fans that he truly is everything we expected him to be.

As with any player, though, it hasn't been all good.

Harper has yet to do anything truly catastrophic, but he's definitely had his share of bad moments.

These are the top 10 low points in his young MLB career.

10. Harper Gets Screwed Over...twice

This low point actually doesn't have anything to do with Harper himself—he did everything you could ask him to do on both plays in the video.

The first play in the clip came from his Major League debut.

Harper scooped up a ground ball in left field and uncorked an absolute beauty of a throw to home plate. The runner would have been out at home plate if catcher Wilson Ramos hadn't dropped the ball.

The next play also came from left field, albeit much deeper into the outfield.

Again, Harper uncorked a beauty that, when examined closely, did in fact beat the runner at the plate.

That didn't stop the home plate umpire from calling the runner safe, though.

9. "The Wind Took It"

Harper's game on May 20 ended up being his best as a Major Leaguer—he hit a triple, scored three times, knocked in two runs and drew a walk.

It did not start out so well, though.

With none out in the second inning, Harper misjudged a fly ball off the bat of Wilson Betemit while playing center field. The ball ultimately landed between Harper and left fielder Tyler Moore. That play put the Orioles up 2-0 and Baltimore scored once more before the inning was over.

He admitted after the game that he probably should've let Moore get the ball, but added that "the wind took it."

8. 0-for-5 Against Baltimore

On May 19, Harper was penciled into the lineup second behind Steve Lombardozzi and in front of Ryan Zimmerman.

Each of them recorded multiple hits in the contest but for some reason, their good performances didn't rub off onto Harper.

He finished the game 0-for-5 with two strikeouts while seeing just 18 pitches in the game—for all you mathematicians out there, that's fewer than four pitches per at-bat.

Young hitters tend to be impatient and swing early and often, but seeing less than four pitches per at-bat is not enough.

Being disciplined and picking your pitch is important.

7. Being Overshadowed by Mike Trout

Having Mike Trout and Harper make their 2012 debuts at essentially the same time has been great for the game of baseball.

It hasn't been so great for Harper though.

Both players are incredibly talented and will likely have great careers, but Trout has vastly outperformed Harper up to this point.

Entering Thursday's action, Trout owns a line of .315/.382/.539 with four homers and 12 RBI.

Harper's line, on the other hand, is .267/.350/.467 with two homers and nine RBI.

Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report compared the two, claiming that he'd rather build a team around Trout.

After being arguably the most hyped prospect in MLB history, the last thing Harper wants is to be overshadowed.

6. Third in the Majors in Errors Committed by an Outfielder

Not all of Harper's plays in the outfield have the same results as the miraculous catch pictured.

Harper has committed three errors, tied for third amongst all Major League outfielders.

He's been flawless in seven games in left field, but he's made one error in center and two in right.

We have to be somewhat lenient with him, though, considering the fact that he's still learning to play outfield in the Majors.

He's a phenomenal athlete, and I don't see his defense hurting his game in the future.

5. 0-for-5 in Cincinnati

The 0-for-5 that Harper put together on May 11 in Cincinnati was even worse than the one he put together against the Orioles.

Harper struck out three times batting out of the No. 5 spot in the order while seeing just 14 pitches—again, for you mathematicians, that's fewer than three pitches per at-bat.

Harper was also 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position.

The worst part about this game wasn't even the fact that he went 0-for-5, but I'll get into that in just a few more slides.

4. Harper Watches His Average Dip to .213

Following the performance I highlighted on the previous slide, Harper went 0-for-4 with a strikeout the following game.

The 0-for-4 made him 0-for-9 in the series with four strikeouts.

Every player has 0-fers, but the back-to-back ones for Harper made his average dip to a season-low .213.

He's since turned things around, as .213 still remains the lowest mark he's produced thus far.

3. Harper Strikes out to End the Game

With two outs in the ninth inning on May 15, Bryce Harper stepped up to the plate as the last hope for the Nationals against the Padres.

His opponent? The flame-throwing Andrew Cashner.

CSN Washington's Mark Zuckerman probably put it best:

"

Andrew Cashner vs Bryce Harper. Some serious power on both ends in this matchup.

—Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) May 15, 2012"

The at-bat didn't end well for Harper, as he was clearly overpowered.

He ultimately struck out on a 101 mph heater to end the ballgame.

2. Harper Stereotypes Philly Fans

Let me start this slide out by saying that I doubt Harper was serious when he delivered this quote regarding playing in Philadelphia: "Hopefully I get a couple of boos...and they don't throw any batteries."

Generally speaking, Philadelphia fans are amongst the most obnoxious in sports—along with New York fans, Boston fans and several other cities.

That's not the point, though.

No fan in their right mind would be throwing batteries.

He was probably just trying to make a joke, but it was something that was probably better left unsaid.

1. The Dugout Wall Fights Back

Harper was so mad at himself about his 0-for-5, three-strikeout performance on May 11 that he decided to smash his bat up against the dugout wall.

Plenty of players do similar things out of anger, but Harper overlooked just one thing—the fact that the bat would ricochet back off the wall.

Needless to say, that's exactly what happened.

The bat ended up making a sizeable gash above Harper's left eye which required 10 stitches to patch up.

He was back in the lineup the next day, but unfortunately went 0-for-4.

This was easily the lowest point of Harper's very young career, and it's safe to say that he'll never pick a fight with a dugout wall again.