The 2 swings that make Bryce an MVP

Bryce Harper has two swings. He's had them for a while now. And they're both dangerous. Here's how Harper used his dual approach to become an MVP slugger for the second time.

First, there's the signature Harper swing, with his gradual stride toward the pitcher that mirrors the pitcher's own stride toward him, his front leg in the air and knee hooking in toward his body as the bat ticks over his head and his hack begins.

Then there's his quicker, toe-tap swing -- his front toe tapping the ground as the pitcher drives toward the plate, then a short, low-to-the-ground step as he completes the swing. It's an alternative timing mechanism that over the years has become as essential a part of Harper's hitting style as his leg kick.

The path of the bat stays consistent once he gets into the swing, but the way Harper drives toward the ball changes. It's interesting to watch how he crushes balls with both variations -- he's already doing that in the new season, with home runs via both the leg kick and toe tap in Spring Training.

So as the 2022 season begins, let's take a look at how the Phillies superstar used his two swings in tandem in his MVP 2021 campaign.

Harper's home runs

Harper hit 35 home runs in 2021. He had 78 extra-base hits, and 147 base hits (not counting bunts, when there's no leg kick or toe tap). Here's how they broke down by his two swing types.

Leg kick: 73 hits / 36 extra-base hits / 16 home runs
Toe tap: 74 hits / 42 extra-base hits / 19 home runs

Harper's "traditional" swing is the leg kick, but he even slugged a tiny bit more out of the toe tap. The cool thing, though, is how balanced his success is with both swings.

This is the perfect time to watch some Harper highlights to show his two swings in action. Here are his 16 home runs using his leg kick.

And here are his 19 home runs using the toe tap.

If the swings are different, is there a difference in the home runs? Well, a homer is a homer. But the kind of homer Harper hit with his leg kick actually is a little different than the kind of homer he hit with the toe tap. It shows up in the Statcast data.

Harper's leg kick home runs

• Median exit velocity: 108.2 mph
• Median launch angle: 27.5 degrees
• Median distance: 425 feet

Harper's toe tap home runs

• Median exit velocity: 109.2 mph
• Median launch angle: 30 degrees
• Median distance: 406 feet

Harper contacted the ball a little harder when he used the toe tap. He hit eight of those home runs 110 mph or harder, for example, compared to five 110-plus mph home runs with the leg kick. But he found the launch angle sweet spot more often with his leg kick, resulting in longer home runs. Harper's leg kick homers included his season long of 468 feet on April 25 and three 440-footers, compared to just one when he used a toe tap.

The toe tap produced more home runs; they just tended to be higher and shorter home runs (five with a launch angle over 35 degrees vs. one with the leg kick; eight with a distance under 400 feet vs. five with the leg kick). Those home runs, of course, still count.

Choosing the right swing

The other big question is, when does Harper use each swing?

It's not a platoon thing -- some hitters, like Jarred Kelenic, employ different batting stances against righties and lefties, but Harper uses both swing styles against both right-handed and left-handed pitchers.

All the way back when Harper was a rookie in 2012, when his toe taps were much more infrequent, Baseball Prospectus' Sam Miller conjectured the 19-year-old could have been using the toe tap when he was anticipating breaking or offspeed pitches. Now, though, Harper's hits are distributed nicely across all pitch types, whether he's fully striding or toe-tapping.

You might expect Harper's toe tap to be a two-strike approach, since it's more compact, and his leg kick to be for early counts. Something like Juan Soto getting wider and wider and digging deeper and deeper into his stance as he battles a pitcher, or Joey Votto choking up farther and farther along the bat. But it's not so defined.

There is, though, a general relationship between Harper's situation in the count and whether he swings with a leg kick or toe tap. In 2021, he hit better with the leg kick when he was ahead; he tended to rely on the toe tap if he fell behind, or in even counts late in an at-bat (Harper jumped on first pitches with both variations of swing). Just looking at his results:

Harper in hitters' counts
Leg kick: 20 H / 11 XBH / 9 HR
Toe tap: 14 H / 7 XBH / 4 HR

Harper in pitchers' counts
Leg kick: 17 H / 11 XBH / 2 HR
Toe tap: 19 H / 15 XBH / 4 HR

Harper in even counts (including 1st pitch and full count)
Leg kick: 36 H / 14 XBH / 5 HR
Toe tap: 41 H / 20 XBH / 11 HR

If you watched Harper over the course of the season, though, what you'd see is that he went through phases of favoring the leg kick, then the toe tap.

Through the first three months of the 2021 season, Harper predominantly found success with his traditional full stride. Over the final three months, the toe tap carried him to the MVP Award.

Harper -- Opening Day through June
Leg kick: 43 H / 17 XBH / 9 HR
Toe tap: 14 H / 6 XBH / 4 HR

Harper -- July through the end of the season
Leg kick: 30 H / 19 XBH / 7 HR
Toe tap: 60 H / 36 XBH / 15 HR

Looking at Harper's home run log, you see stretches of leg kicks interspersed with stretches of toe taps. His first home run of the season on April 10, he used a full leg kick; his next home run, the next day, he used a toe tap. That kicked off a series of alternating streaks:

• April 18-May 11 -- 5 leg-kick HRs
• June 8-23 -- 3 toe-tap HRs
• June 25-30 -- 3 leg-kick HRs
• July 3-Aug. 5 -- 5 toe-tap HRs
• Aug. 6-17 -- 4 leg-kick HRs
• Aug. 20-Sept. 11 -- 9 toe-tap HRs
• Sept. 12-25 -- 3 leg-kick HRs

And he closed out the season with one final toe-tap home run on Oct. 1.

Harper will probably employ the two swings in concert again in 2022, as he feels better with one or the other. What matters most is this: They're both MVP swings.