As walks pile up, Harper growing impatient and chasing

With a pair of walks - both intentional - during Monday night's 3-2 win over the Pirates, Bryce Harper racked up his 37th and 38th free passes of the season. Only Barry Bonds, with 39 in 2004, has ever drawn more walks in March/April.

Harper enters May with a .458 on-base percentage, tops in the majors. Which is a good thing.

Except Harper isn't doing much else these days besides drawing walks, which is a bad thing. With only five hits in his last 35 at-bats - all of those singles - he has seen his batting average plummet to .247. His slugging percentage is still a healthy .528, but entirely a result of the eight home runs he belted in his first 17 games.

Harper struck out in his two other at-bats Monday night, giving him 21 on the season. And many of those have come on pitches well out of the strike zone. Which is where nearly every pitch thrown to him right now lands.

"They're walking him, and he's a little frustrated," manager Davey Martinez said. "But I told him, I said: 'Take your walks. Take your walks. Try to stay on the ball.' He's getting maybe one pitch to hit, and he said today: 'I just keep fouling them off.' And I said: 'I know it's frustrating. I do. But just stay with it. Things will change. You're a good hitter. You're one of the best hitters in the game, so just stay with it.' "

It would help if the rest of the Nationals were taking advantage of all of Harper's walks by driving him in. But they're not, and it doesn't seem to matter who's batting behind him.

After watching Ryan Zimmerman struggle for a month batting cleanup, Martinez decided to try Howie Kendrick in the No. 4 position in his lineup. That hasn't produced any better results. Kendrick is 2-for-12 in the last three games since changing spots in the order, and he's 0-for-3 with a double play following a Harper walk.

"Howie's been doing great, he really has," Martinez said. "I don't mind Howie getting up there in situations to drive in runs. I don't think there's anybody that's going to protect Harper. I mean, he's that good, he really is."

Except Harper hasn't been that good in the last two weeks, adding further strain to an already struggling Nationals lineup.

"In the beginning, he was hitting his pitches, and he was hitting them far," Martinez said. "He'll start hitting. No doubt about it. But he's got to be patient."