"Give Bryce Harper the golden middle finger" - Phillies fans slam $330M superstar for postseason flop despite Gold Glove nomination

Since signing a thirteen-year, $330 million contract to join the Philadelphia Phillies in 2019, superstar Bryce Harper has earned himself two All-Star selections, an NL MVP award, an NLCS MVP award, three Silver Slugger awards, and several other notable honors.

The 32-year-old might also be about to win his first ever Gold Glove, as the Phillies took to Instagram on Wednesday to announce Harper has been named as a finalist for the prestigious prize.

"Congrats, 3️⃣ Bryce has been named a finalist for the Rawlings Gold Glove Award!" the Phillies posted to Instagram

Reacting to the news, several fans were quick to bring up Harper's underwhelming performances at the plate in the NLDS against the LA Dodgers. In the 15 at-bats he got during the crucial series, Harper only managed a total of three hits, none of which were home runs or RBIs. As a result, yet another postseason came to a heartbreaking end for the Phillies.

"Give him the golden middle finger courtesy of Philly fans 🖕🏼" a fan wrote

"Certainly not going to be up for any clutch hitting awards" another fan commented

Screenshots of fans' comments on Instagram (Images from - Instagram.com/@phillies)

"Well, it’s definitely not the golden bat award" another fan replied

"If there were awards for choke artistry, he would always be first 🏆" another fan responded

"Coming from a Philly fan, he has lost his “clutch” title and is starting to win the golden choke artist award" another fan shared

"Wish he had a golden bat" another fan posted

"It's not fun" - Bryce Harper reflects on another missed opportunity after the Phillies are eliminated from the postseason

Speaking to the press shortly after the Phillies were eliminated from the postseason, Bryce Harper reflected on another missed opportunity for himself and his teammates.

"Every time you get into spring training, that's the plan (winning the World Series). I know fans are upset, I know the city's upset. Obviously, it's warranted. We're upset in here as well, our daily life is Philly baseball. This is our family in here, this is what we do."

"We want to win for not just ourselves, but for everybody that watches us play. I've lost many games in the playoffs, and it's not fun. I want it more than probably a lot of people. Obviously, I want to hold that trophy," Bryce Harper said [4:47]

For now, Bryce Harper and company will look to rest and regroup in the offseason, before preparing to challenge for the World Series yet again in 2026.

About the author

Raghav Mehta is a baseball journalist at Sportskeeda awaiting results for a Bachelor's in Journalism from Delhi University. He enjoys highlighting the key battles between players at different stages of the game and analyzing the decisive moments upon which they hinge.

One of Raghav's favorite moments, which underscores this, was the Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout clash in the 2023 WBC, where two of baseball's best players faced off against each other in the 9th inning. With the score 3-2 to Japan, Shohei eventually got the strikeout, which was absolute cinema.

Raghav is a Baltimore Orioles fan and is enjoying watching such an exciting young team compete at the top in a very competitive division.

Raghav has loved watching sports for as long as he can remember and realized he was pretty decent at writing his thoughts down at around the age of 14. Combining the two meant he had something he would enjoy doing every day, and he had identified that well before going to college.

Aside from work, Raghav enjoys playing sports, working out and watching movies.

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Edited by Raghav Mehta