Bryce Harper & Mike Trout: New Season, Different Start

When Bryce Harper and Mike Trout were called up to the Major Leagues last season, both, coincidently, on the same day (April 28th), Trout started off his season tearing it up out of the gate, while Harper struggled a bit before finding his groove to finish out the season strong.

Both would go on to win the 2012 Rookie of the Year, however, this season around, it’s Harper who is making some noise to start the year, while Trout is off to somewhat of a rough start. Things are certainly not playing out like I had expected.

Bryce Harper blasted two home runs on Opening Day, and now sits at five home runs for the season. Harper also currently holds a .372 batting average, including 10 RBI’s, through eleven games played. Mike Trout, on the other hand, has a mere batting average of .245, with no home runs and only one RBI, through the same number of games played. While there’s still plenty of time left in the season, in which either Harper or Trout could continue on their current paths or have things turn around, it’s something worth noting, nonetheless.

Which leads me to my main question, of if Harper will keep up his hot start and if Trout will continue to struggle. For both, I say no.

Harper is going to have an incredible year, but he’s by no means going to hit for a near .400 average all season long, as well as keeping on his current pace to blast 80 home runs and 160 RBI’s. I see Harper slowing things down in the coming weeks, to lower his stats back down to a realistic level. Even so, I’m predicting him to finish the season with even better stats than last year, with a .315 batting average, to go along with 32 home runs and 98 RBI’s. (But as with most predictions, this is all merely speculative.)

As far as Trout goes, he’s bound to bounce back to being his normal superstar self, increasing his batting average and squaring up the baseball more often. Trout’s just in a bit of a slump that he’s sure to pull out of before too long. If I had to make a prediction for how he’ll finish the year statistically, I could see Trout slugging 26 homers and batting in 80 runs. Slightly down from the monster numbers he put up last season, but the poor start he’s off to is sure to have an effect on his long-term stats.

In the end, however, both Bryce Harper and Mike Trout are likely to have stellar seasons.

That’s almost a sure bet.

Who will have the better 2013 season: Harper and Trout? Will either win MVP? Leave a comment below.