The most talked about guy in D.C. sports is now facing some career altering moments. No, Bryce Harper isn’t hitting baseballs so hard that they fly out of National’s Park, but instead quite the opposite. MLB teams are so scared of this one man that they refuse to even throw him decent pitches in fear of him hitting balls so hard that the stitches burn off.

Monday night’s game against the Mets resulted in Harper ending up hitless, and last night’s game he came out with an RBI. This doesn’t really come as a shock though, with Harper having a 27 game slump in which he’s hit a .184 average and only two home runs. The worst part about the slump is the fact that he’s been walked 38 times. All the intentional walks are clearly getting to Harper’s head, and as annoying as I think they are, they’re just a part of baseball that Harper is going to have to find a way to get around.

Harper himself once said “you have to understand you may only get one or two [good] pitches a game. If you don’t hit them, it’s your fault.” Some of the best batters in baseball went through the same situation that Harper is in: Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Barry Bonds. All three were so feared that the entire league decided not to throw them any solid pitches, however all three came out even more feared during the seasons where they were constantly being walked. Bonds used to swing at trash pitches and fall behind in the count in order to bait pitchers into throwing him strikes. Now I’m not saying go on a crazy PED spree, but if Harper can use Bonds as a model and taunt pitchers into throwing him something hittable, I feel like Harper can turn his hitting slump into a run that’ll last all summer long.