Bryce Harper's MVP plate discipline is carrying over into 2016

Among the many remarkable things he did last season en route to unanimous election as National League MVP, Bryce Harper's ability not to get frustrated by opposing teams pitching around him stood out as a particularly impressive trait.

Harper, who in his first three big league seasons could be prone to chasing pitches out of the zone, made a key adjustment in 2015 and began laying off those offerings, content to take his walks. He wound up accepting 124 free passes on his way to a league-best .460 on-base percentage.

At the same time, though, Harper did continue to swing and miss at a fairly high rate. He finished with 131 strikeouts.

So far, that hasn't been the case in 2016. It's very early, of course, but Harper enters play tonight having yet to strike out. He's the only qualified hitter in the NL who can make that claim.

"I'm just trying to have good at-bats," he said. "To see pitches and get pitches in my zone that I can drive. I'm just trying to have that right approach up there: Wait for my pitch and drive that pitch."

Harper has done that quite well through the season's first week. He's 5-for-13 with two doubles, two homers, five walks and (of course) zero strikeouts.

As was the case much of last year, Harper hasn't given in to the inevitable frustration that comes when opposing teams pitch around you. Nationals manager Dusty Baker, though, doesn't want to make too many proclamations about his 23-year-old star just yet.

"He only has like 15 at-bats. We'll see when he gets to 200-250," Baker said. "That's when frustration sets in, in May or June, when you get tired of seeing the four fingers or a pitch-around, an unintentional intentional walk. We've got a ways to go. Right now, his patience is high."

Nonetheless, Baker is impressed with Harper's advanced hitting approach at such a young age.

"He has an idea what they're trying to do to him," the manager said. "That's where it starts. You have to have an idea what the opposition's opinion of you is, and what their game plan is. I think he recognizes rather quickly what their game plan is. ...That's what I like, the fact that he has an idea. He's not just up there swinging. You don't hit a ball to left-center and then pull the ball just cause you swing. You've got to have an idea up there, and this is what you hope everybody has."