This might sound exaggerated. Bryce HarperHe called it his shot. He called it his shot.
“Let’s give ‘em something to remember,” Harper told PhilliesKevin Long, hitting coach was walking up the dugout steps.
In the eighth inning, the Phillies trailed 3-2. Harper was elected to the on-deck circle. J.T. RealmutoIt was quick to get things moving, with a single at 106 mph that was followed by a 0-2 changeup. Padres right-hander Robert Suarez.
A momentous October moment was about as close as it got, one that would define Harper and haunt Padres manager Bob Melvin, and will remain in the collective memory of all who saw Game 5 of the National League Championship Series.
Long had pulled video of Padres closer to his home Josh HaderOn a dugout tablet, Hader figured Harper would be entering the game. Hader had struck out eight of his previous hitters in the postseason, a record. It was a classic series-defining matchup. It never came to pass.
Melvin continued to support Suarez. He claimed that Hader was still not well warmed up and that they wanted to use him only for four outs. A number the reliever has not exceeded since September 2019. In 98 at-bats, Suarez didn’t allow a left-handed hitter to score in either the regular season or postseason. The right-left matchup almost seemed to set the stage for the inevitable. The perfect blend of man, metropolis and moment. Harper, the Homer and Philadelphia.
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“We call him the Showman,” Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins said.
“We kind of expected it, honestly,” Long said.
What kind of player announces to his hitting coach he is going to give his team’s fans a memory they will cherish forever? A player who is locked in for the whole postseason. A player who is open to the challenge of playing at the highest level. The player who seems to be on the right path to this moment from the time he was featured on Sports Illustrated’s 16-year-old cover.
Harper was defeated in Game 2 by Suarez, who hit a fastball to win. In the eighth inning, a 5-4-3 double play resulted for the Padres. The battle was back. Harper fouled a 96.1 mph sinker by Suarez, who won the match 0-1. Harper stole the ball with a 97.1-mph four-seamer. Harper then fouled off three pitches, a 98.2mph sinker and a 99.6-mph four-seamer at 98.5 mph. The pitch that changed everything was a 91.5 mph changeup.
Most hitters would have hit the pitch. Harper isn’t the most popular hitter. Harper did not even blink, and the count was 2-2.
“That’s an unbelievable take,” Padres catcher Austin Nola said. “I mean, that’s the pitch he swings at usually. The fact that he ‘patient-ed up’ and took it, that was Suarez’s best pitch, hands down.”
It was almost checkmate at that point.
“I knew he was going to come with his heater,” Harper told me on FS1 after he returned to the dugout.
Bryce Harper speaks to @Ken_RosenthalAfter his go ahead homer in the bottom 8th,
📺FS1 and FOX Sports App pic.twitter.com/aFEgH61oMp
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 23, 2022
“When he spit on the changeup, I had a feeling,” Long said. “Once he spit on that changeup, he just did what Bryce does.”
Harper said he wasn’t trying to do too much, knowing if he hit a ball in the gap that Realmuto could score from first. Suarez’s heater came, a 98.9 mph sinker on the outer part of the plate. It left Harper’s bat at 108.9 mph and landed over the left-field wall, giving the Phillies a 4-3 lead, producing bedlam at Citizens Bank Park.
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Harper watched as the ball flew. He gestured at the Phillies’ dugout, then trotted around the bases calmly, as if he knew his two-run, opposite-field shot was going to happen all along.
Some thought he was too popular early in his career. Recently, it appeared that he was underrated. He will always be remembered in Philadelphia.
The World Series was just around the corner for a team that had started at 22-29 and lost its manager. Harper, yes, was missing for two months with a left thumb fracture.
Harper signed with Phillies in February 2019, which was quite surprising considering that his free 13-year contract, worth $330million, did not contain the opt-out clauses Scott Boras had hoped for. Harper claimed at the time that he had grown tired of all the annual talk about Harper leaving for the World Series. YankeesOder DodgersHe wanted his family to settle in one place.
That was what I wrote back then. Harper and Boras wantedThis was to the exclusion and record of nearly all other sports. Harper’s $25.4 million average annual value at the time was merely the game’s 14th-highest. And by not securing an opt-out, he sacrificed something Boras’ top clients rarely yield — significant control over his career.
Well, Harper knew what he was doing, didn’t he? Harper was a great fit for Philadelphia, which appreciates his heart-and soul style and maximum effort.
The Phillies in offseason also pursued Manny MachadoHe signed a 10-year, $300-million deal with the Padres. But clearly, they got the player with whom their fans could relate best, even if, during Harper’s seven seasons with the NationalsThese same fans despise him.
Harper’s father, Ron, said he understood why his son connected so naturally with his new city.
“I think it’s because I was an iron worker,” Ron explained as the Phillies and their families celebrated on the field. “I’m blue-collar. He was raised in this kind of family. They appreciate that he hustles out of the box every single night and works hard.”
John Middleton, Phillies owner, spoke to another group of journalists not far away. He was happy with his investment. Harper was named National League MVP in the third year of his contract. Harper was named NLCS MVP for year four. He is currently batting.419 and has a 1.351 OPS in the postseason. He has six doubles and five homers in 46 plate appearances.
“All the things we thought he was, have turned out to be there,” Middleton said. “There have been no disappointments. Sometimes you feel you know someone when you go through this process. You will find something quite different. There’s nothing different with Bryce. He is simply committed to winning. He’ll do whatever it takes.”
J.T. Realmuto and Bryce Harper celebrated in the eighth. (Bill Streicher / USA Today Sports)
Harper was asked, post-game interview, what makes Philadelphia crowds unique and different from other cities. After starting with a joke, Harper went into an extended, passionate response.
“It’s Philly, man. They hate you,” Harper said, drawing laughter. “Unless you’re wearing Philly red or you’re a Phillie, they don’t like you, and I love that. I love every emotion that they have … I loved walking in as an opposing player knowing that I was going to get absolutely blasted by these fans.
“They just want you to work hard. They want you to work hard. They don’t want you to make excuses. They don’t care if you’re hurt or you’re not feeling good or if you didn’t sleep the night before. They pay their hard-earned dollar every day to get to the ballpark for us, and they’re doing it right now for us during the playoffs.
“Everybody talks about the blue-collarness of this city and the fight that they have, and it just rubs off on all of us.”
He is now 30, quite a distance from his younger self who was a sometimes hot-tempered player. Some fans became exasperatedWith flashes of immaturity and cockiness. Ron used to tell reporters that Bryce was misunderstood back then. He was a good kid who stood up for the right things. Bryce was just 19 when he made his major league debut and 22 when he received his first of two MVP Awards. His offenses were, in all honesty, minor. He never got into serious trouble.
Harper is now married with two children and is celebrating his second coming-out party by treating the postseason as a sort of second coming-out party. Phillies manager Rob Thomson has pointed out that Harper and his teammates began playing more freely after they finally ended the franchise’s 11-year playoff drought, escaping the burden of that pressure. Sheri Harper, Ron Harper, and their son, Ron, also see it. Their son is energetic and bursting with emotion.
“I wanted him to just enjoy playing baseball again. I can see it. He loves the city. Everyone, from the owner to the bottom, loves him. And he loves them back,” Ron said.
“He’s part of a team with one heartbeat. They’re all pulling on the same rope. We see the little boy playing again.”
Harper wasn’t on a roll until the playoffs began. He only hit three home runs from his return on August 26 to the close of the regular season. Harper said that Nick Maton, a second-year infielder for the Phillies, hit just three homers in that time span.
Harper tried to return to MVP form after his injury by contributing too much in the two months he was absent. Long stated that Harper needed to be re-acclimated and get back in swing form. Harper swings so hard that he became tired in the first few games of his return.
Long mentioned one other thing — Harper possibly needing to overcome the fear of getting hit. Harper only missed two games after the event. Cardinals’ Génesis Cabrera hit him in the face in April 2021, but two months later the Padres’ Blake SnellOn June 26, Harper was hit in the thumb. Harper claimed that Harper is aware of the possibility of getting hit, but not an issue.
So what changed? What happened to Harper? How did he transform from a hitter without his usual power into the most dynamic slugger of the postseason?
“I’ve said this before: I’ve seen Bryce turn on the switch,” said Long, who was Harper’s hitting coach with the Nationals in 2018 before reuniting with him in Philadelphia this season. “He’s got this extra switch. He can get himself to where he needs to be, just like that.”
Long pointed out that Harper’s home run was not his only impressive at-bat of the day. Harper went down 0-2 in Harper’s second inning. Yu DarvishThen, he hit a splitter down and away for an opposite-field double, just as if he were flicking a ball to the left during batting practice.
The Phillies homer will, however, be the topic Phillies fans will remember for many generations. AstrosThe World Series.
Bryce Harper.
He was inked by the Phillies to this big deal for swings such as these.
🎥 @MLBONFOX | @Phillies pic.twitter.com/eQV8Ikm80e
— The Athletic MLB (@TheAthleticMLB) October 23, 2022
Phillies catcher Realmuto called it, “the biggest swing I’ve ever seen.” Right fielder Nick Castellanos was just as impressed by Harper’s reaction.
“I would say watching him hit that home run … not the ball, not paying attention to the ball, but watching him, it was a big lesson for me, being able to watch and learn,” Castellanos said. “The way that he was able to immerse himself in the moment and stay focused and calm was f—— incredible. These are the exact words.
“This is how I know he’s grown as a person. When I was with him, he hit a walk off homer against us. CubsIn 2019. You may also recall his energetic running around the bases. Right there, when he hit it, he was the calmest person in the stadium.”
Why wouldn’t he be? Harper is now in a rare position, even for a star. Harper had almost promised it. The moment was predicted by almost everyone. It was all but certain.
The Athletic’s Matt Gelb and Dennis Lin contributed to this story.
(Top photo: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
