SB Nation's MLB Awards - Hitter of the Year: Bryce Harper

Today is the first day of a five award series put together by SB Nation. The voting is done by the respective staffs of each site within the SBN baseball network. The first award being handed out is for MLB's Hitter of the Year in 2015.

The choices for MLB's Hitter of the Year were:

1. Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals (.330/.460/.649, 42 HR)
2. Josh Donaldson, Toronto Blue Jays (.297/.371/.568, 41 HR)
3. Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels (.299/.402/.590, 41 HR)
4. Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds (.314/.459/.541, 29 HR)
5. Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks (.321/.435/.570, 33 HR)

Our staff unanimously voted for Bryce Harper as MLB's Hitter of the Year. While all of the players listed above had outstanding seasons, it's Harper who stands out the most as the league's best hitter. While Yankee fans might be tempted to tab Goldschmidt for the award just for his home run on October 4th in a victory against the Astros, which ended up giving the Yankees a home playoff game, Harper's season was still the standout.

Take a look at this mammoth shot Harper hit against the Atlanta Braves on September 4th. This home run, which put the Nationals up 1-0, was also the 32nd of Harper's season, and the longest of Harper's career, travelling 453 feet. This came on the heels of the previous night where Harper went 0-0 with 4 walks and swinging at exactly zero pitches of the 20 he saw. Oh he also scored 4 runs and got an RBI in that game the night before.

After years of giving glimpses of his potential but being hampered by injuries, Harper was finally able to put it together for a full season. He stayed healthy, crushed baseballs, reached base only a little under half the time, and thus had the best season of his very young career so far. Since he's only 23, this is probably just the beginning of a very exciting and hopefully long career.

Do you agree with the choice of Harper as the best hitter in the league? Vote below for your Hitter of the Year 2015!