Virginia Town Crier

Even with Stephen Strasburg’s balky shoulder and Ryan Zimmerman’s healing oblique and Daniel Murphy’s creaky knee, there is no greater issue hanging over the Washington Nationals than Bryce Harper’s Slump — and that’s what it is, with a capital “S,” because the would-be best player in baseball has been one of its least productive offensive performers for the better part of a month.

In good times, the microscope on Harper is worthy of the world’s best biology labs. When he is hitting .133 for the month of June, as he was entering Thursday’s series finale against Baltimore, well, let’s just say there are theories. He’s hurt. Defensive shifts are messing with his mind. He’s frozen by his impending free agency.

“Everybody’s got an opinion,” Harper said Thursday afternoon. “Whatever they want to think.”

Whatever you want to think, understand this: Harper is hyper-aware of his current status as an impediment, rather than an engine, for an inconsistent Nationals offense. But he also doesn’t believe the player he has been for a month or more is the player he really is or the player he will be for the remainder of the season.

So the broad question: What the heck is going on, Bryce?

“The past couple weeks, I’ve just chased out of the zone a little too much,” Harper said. “The biggest thing I see in myself is really just swinging at pitcher’s pitches. There’s times where I’m on the corner and a strike is called, and then I chase something else and dig my own hole. I’ve got to work to get my pitches to hit.”

But what about free agency? If tens of millions of dollars — sorry, hundreds of millions of dollars — were on the line, that would be enough to freak anybody out. Harper is adamant: It doesn’t bother him. On Wednesday, as the Nats waited out a nearly three-hour rain delay, he sat in Dave Martinez’s office and chatted with his manager about it.