Bryce Harper

Bryce Aron Max Harper (born October 16, 1992) is an American professional baseball outfielder and first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Washington Nationals.

One of the most heavily touted draft prospects in recent history, Harper has been cited as a "five-tool player." He left Las Vegas High School after his sophomore year so that he could attend the College of Southern Nevada, where he won the 2010 Golden Spikes Award. The Nationals selected Harper as the first overall pick in the 2010 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut with the Nationals on April 28, 2012, at 19 years old. Harper was selected for the 2012 All-Star Game, becoming the youngest position player (19 years, 268 days old on the day of the game) to play in an All-Star Game, and the second youngest overall (pitcher Dwight Gooden was 19 years, 237 days old when he played in the 1984 All-Star Game).

Harper won the National League (NL) Rookie of the Year Award in 2012 and tied for the NL lead in home runs in 2015. He was named the NL Most Valuable Player for 2015 by unanimous decision of the Baseball Writers' Association of America; at age 23, he was the youngest MLB player to win the award. As a free agent during the 2018–19 offseason, he signed a 13-year, $330 million contract with the Phillies, the richest contract in the history of North American sports at the time, which was eclipsed shortly thereafter by Mike Trout, and by several others later on. He won his second NL MVP award in 2021 with the Phillies. The next season, he helped lead the Phillies to their first postseason appearance in 11 years, and was instrumental in helping the team win its first pennant since 2009, winning the NLCS MVP in the process.

Early life

Harper attended Las Vegas High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. In May 2009, Sports Illustrated featured Harper in a cover story, comparing him with LeBron James by similarly calling him his sport's "Chosen One". That same spring, he won Baseball America's high school player of the year award. Harper grew up a New York Yankees fan.

College career

He earned his GED in October 2009 in his junior year, reclassifying and making him eligible earlier for the Major League Baseball (MLB) draft in June 2010.

For the 2010 college season, 17-year-old Harper enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada of the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), where he was a catcher. His older brother Bryan, who had been his teammate at Las Vegas High School, was one of the Southern Nevada Coyotes' starting pitchers, and the brothers often worked as a battery. An advantage for Harper in his eventual transition to his MLB career was that the SWAC, like MLB, uses wooden bats in conference play. In 66 games, he hit 31 home runs with 98 RBIs, hitting .443 with a .526 OBP, and a .987 SLG. Harper's 31 home runs in 2010 broke the school's previous record of 12, and he was named the 2010 SWAC Player of the Year.

In the Western district finals of the 2010 NJCAA World Series, Harper went 6-for-7 with five RBIs and hit for the cycle. The next day, in a doubleheader, he went 2-for-5 with a three-run double in the first game. In the second game, he went 6-for-6 with four home runs, a triple, and a double.

On June 2 that year, Harper was ejected from a National Junior College World Series game by home plate umpire Don Gilmore for disputing a called third strike. Harper drew a line in the dirt with his bat as he left the plate, presumably to show where he thought the pitch was. It was Harper's second ejection of the year and resulted in a two-game suspension. The suspension ended his amateur career, and Southern Nevada lost the game from which Harper was ejected. With Harper suspended, the team also lost their next game, which eliminated them from the tournament. Harper won the 2010 Golden Spikes Award, given to the best amateur baseball player in the nation.

Professional career

Draft and minor leagues

The Washington Nationals chose Harper with the first overall selection of the 2010 Major League Baseball draft. Although Harper had previously and predominantly played catcher, the Nationals drafted him as an outfielder to extend his career and to accelerate his player development so that he could debut in MLB earlier.

At the signing deadline, Harper and the Nationals agreed to a five-year contract worth $9.9 million, including a $6.25 million signing bonus and eight semesters of college tuition. When asked about the signing, Nationals President Stan Kasten said, "The truth is, with a full minute to go, Mike and I both thought we were not going to have a deal." Asked what changed in that final minute, Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo replied, "It was both sides compromising and knowing that we were so close, it would be fruitless not to get a deal done." On August 26, 2010, Harper was introduced by the Nationals. He said he chose to wear No. 34 because "I always loved Mickey Mantle, three and four equals seven."

After batting .319 with a .407 OBP (and leading his team in hits, home runs, RBIs, and walks) in the Nationals' fall instructional league, Harper was selected to participate in the Arizona Fall League (AFL) as a member of the Scottsdale Scorpions taxi-squad, the second-youngest player in the history of the league (two days older than when Mets' prospect Fernando Martínez appeared in the league in 2006). He batted .343 and slugged .729. On November 20, Harper and the Scottsdale Scorpions won the 2010 AFL Championship.

After batting .399 in spring training, Harper began his minor league career when the Nationals optioned him to the Hagerstown Suns of the Class-A South Atlantic League. In April 2011, after a slow start in the minor leagues, Harper visited optometrist Dr. Keith Smithson, who reportedly told him, "I don't know how you ever hit before. You have some of the worst eyes I've ever seen." In his first 20 games after receiving contact lenses, Harper hit .480, collecting seven home runs, 10 doubles and 23 RBIs.

Harper was selected to represent the United States in the 2011 All-Star Futures Game during the 2011 All-Star Game weekend. He was promoted to the Harrisburg Senators of the Double-A Eastern League on July 4. Harper went 2-for-3 in his Double-A debut with two singles, a run, and a walk. On August 18, Harper injured his hamstring while running from second to third on an extra-base hit. The injury was severe enough for him to be carried off the field by his coaches. He was placed on the seven-day disabled list and the injury ended Harper's season.

Harper began the 2012 season with the Syracuse Chiefs of the Triple-A International League.

Washington Nationals (2012–2018)

2012 season: NL Rookie of the Year

The Nationals promoted Harper to the major leagues on April 27, 2012, after Ryan Zimmerman was placed on the disabled list. Harper made his MLB debut with the Nationals the next day against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Harper grounded out to pitcher Chad Billingsley in his first major league at-bat. He recorded his first major league hit, a double, in his third at-bat against Billingsley and got his first RBI on a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth against Javy Guerra.

After being hit by a pitch by Cole Hamels in the first inning of a game against the Phillies on May 6, Harper eventually advanced to third, then stole home plate, becoming the first teenager to steal home plate since 1964. Hamels later admitted that he intentionally hit Harper and was suspended for five games by MLB. On May 14, Harper was 19 when he hit his first career Major League home run, connecting off of San Diego Padres pitcher Tim Stauffer. He was the youngest player to homer in the major leagues since Adrián Beltré did in 1998. He was named National League Rookie of the Month for May.

Harper earned his first walk-off hit on June 5 with an RBI single in the bottom of the 12th inning against the New York Mets.

During a game against the Toronto Blue Jays on June 12, Harper hit a deep home run to center field that struck an advertising banner adjacent to the restaurant in the second tier of seats at the Rogers Centre, estimated to travel 438 feet. After the game, a reporter asked if Harper would take advantage of Ontario's lower drinking age (19, versus 21 in the U.S.) by drinking a celebratory beer with his teammates. Harper replied, "I'm not going to answer that. That's a clown question, bro." The comment quickly developed into an Internet meme, with the phrase itself repeated, in response to a question, by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Harper filed an application to trademark the phrase.