Reminder: Harper is always a beast in April

Bryce Harper introduced himself to Philadelphia in style with a pair of majestic home runs on Opening Weekend -- a 465-foot blast to deep, deep right-center at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday, followed by a high-arcing moonshot into the right-field seats on Sunday.

The Phillies' marquee star is looking the part. In their opening-series sweep of the Braves, Harper didn't just crush the two homers, he also doubled and reached base in seven of his 13 plate appearances.

And that's no surprise. Harper is always a monster early in the year.

For his entire career, the 26-year-old has been at his best in March and April. Harper's numbers in the first month of the season are eye-popping. Here's a look at six of the best ones.

1) Harper is MLB's best April hitter since his debut

He has a career OPS of 1.065 in March and April. That leads Major League hitters since 2012, his debut season, by a wide margin.

Highest OPS in March/April, 2012-present
Min. 250 PA in March/April
1. Bryce Harper: 1.065
2. Eric Thames: 1.022
3. David Ortiz: 1.004
4. Mike Trout: .969
5. Freddie Freeman: .955

In fact, Harper leads MLB in both components of OPS. His .438 on-base percentage in March/April ranks ahead of Kris Bryant (.411), Joc Pederson (.411) and Joey Votto (.404). His .627 slugging percentage is tied for first with Thames and ahead of Ortiz (.602) and Trout (.570).

2) In fact, he's been one of the best of all time

Harper ranks fourth in MLB history in March/April OPS, among those hitters with at least 500 first-month plate appearances -- Harper had 660 plate appearances and 526 at-bats during March and April entering Monday's action. He's one of seven hitters all-time with a March/April OPS over 1.000. It's quite the list.

Best March/April OPS all-time
Min. 500 career PA in March/April
1. Babe Ruth: 1.089
2. Ted Williams: 1.088
3. Barry Bonds: 1.072
4. Bryce Harper: 1.065
5. Jimmie Foxx: 1.049
6. Mark McGwire: 1.032
7. Rogers Hornsby: 1.029

3) Harper in April is as good as anyone in any month

There are only five active players who have a career OPS of 1.000 or better for a month in which they've taken 500 plate appearances. They're five of the best players in the game -- and Harper's 1.065 OPS is better than any of their marks for their best months.

Active players with 1.000+ OPS in any month
Min. 500 PA in the month
Bryce Harper: March/April (1.065)
Mike Trout: May (1.018), June (1.045), July (1.017)
Joey Votto: August (1.003)
Paul Goldschmidt: June (1.038)
Josh Donaldson: August (1.003)

4) He's out-homering all his peers

Harper's first Phillies home runs over the weekend were the 42nd and 43rd of his career in March and April. That's more than any other player has hit since his rookie year.

Most HR in March/April, 2012-present
1. Bryce Harper: 43
2-T. Nelson Cruz: 42
2-T. Ryan Braun: 42
4. Justin Upton: 39
5. Giancarlo Stanton: 38

5) He's been 75-percent better than the league

Harper has a 176 Weighted Runs Created Plus in March and April for his career -- wRC+ is a stat for overall offensive performance, where 100 is league average. That means Harper has been 76 percent better as a hitter than the rest of MLB in March and April.

Harper's 176 wRC+ is 10 points better than Trout's 166. No hitter with a similar number of first-month plate appearances comes close. Aaron Judge, for example, has a career 185 wRC+ in March/April, but he has only 233 plate appearances, about one-third of the plate appearances Harper has had.

6) The first month is Harper's best month

Harper obviously has the ability to be great for an entire season -- he wouldn't have that 2015 NL MVP trophy if he didn't -- but he outdoes himself in March and April, when he's put up easily his best statistics across the board.

Harper's best month is March/April in all three slash line categories and OPS, and he's homered more times in the season's first month than any other.

Harper's career splits by month
March/April: .310/.438/.627, 1.065 OPS, 43 HR
May: .255/.376/.545, .921 OPS, 40 HR
June: .279/.378/.463, .840 OPS, 18 HR
July: .256/.366/.459, .826 OPS, 29 HR
August: .293/.377/.494, .871 OPS, 29 HR
September/October: .283/.395/.503, .897 OPS, 27 HR

Harper also has more RBIs in March and April (114) and more runs scored (118) than in any other month.

7) Harper's had some amazing Aprils

The best single month of Harper's career (by OPS) is actually May of his MVP-winning 2015 season. But he's had more superstar Aprils than he has any other months. Four of his top 10 individual months by OPS have been March/April, including three with an OPS over 1.000.

Harper's best individual months, career
1. May 2015: 1.379 OPS, 13 HR
2. March/April 2017: 1.281 OPS, 9 HR
3. July 2017: 1.234 OPS, 9 HR
4. Sept./Oct. 2015: 1.216 OPS, 11 HR
5. March/April 2013: 1.150 OPS, 9 HR

The other two March/Aprils in Harper's top 10 months by OPS came in 2016 (No. 7 -- 1.121 OPS, nine homers) and 2018 (No. 10 -- .986 OPS, eight homers). Maybe his March and April 2019 will add another entry to the list.