392 with five home runs and a 1.230 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in the Phillies’ 13 playoff games. Limited to designated hitter duties because of an elbow injury, Harper is batting. The work has been evident in the postseason. He returned in late August, Long said, “grinding really hard” to rediscover his rhythm. He didn’t know his body and his swing nearly as good as he does now.”Ī broken left thumb sidelined Harper for two months this season. Now he’s an elite slugger with the Houston Astros and in the World Series. Yordan Álvarez was briefly in the Dodgers organization in 2016 before the team traded him. Sports Yordan Álvarez, traded in 2016 by Dodgers, has developed into a big deal with Astros Long was the Nationals’ hitting coach during Harper’s final season in Washington. He works his tail off and he gets rewarded for those moments like he did in the eighth inning in Game 5.” “His work ethic, I mean, the best in the game. “Being able to watch Bryce day in, day out for the last couple of months, through the ups and downs, he’s stayed the same,” Marsh said. He quickly realized Harper’s work behind the scenes was different. Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh played with Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani on the Angels before he was traded to Philadelphia in August. Harper continued supplying elite power production in his first three seasons and winning the NL MVP award last year. He’s been an All-Star the last two seasons. That fall, Betts helped lead them to their first championship in 32 years. Five months later, Betts and the Dodgers agreed to a 12-year, $365-million contract extension.Įffectively, in a roundabout way, the Dodgers chose Betts over Harper. But Cole agreed to a nine-year, $324-million contract with the New York Yankees, leaving the Dodgers empty-handed in the free-agent superstar aisle until they acquired Mookie Betts from the Boston Red Sox in February 2020. That next offseason, however, the Dodgers were willing to adjust their strategy after losing in the NL Division Series, offering starting pitcher Gerrit Cole an eight-year, $300-million deal with deferrals. Harper didn’t nudge them in a new direction. The Dodgers to that point hadn’t signed a free agent to a contract longer than four years under Friedman. “The skill of Bryce Harper has nothing to do with the pajamas he wears,” Scott Boras, Harper’s agent, said last week. Days later, Harper signed a 13-year, $330-million deal with the Phillies, who beat the San Francisco Giants’ long-term contract offer. But Harper sought a long-term contract because he sought a long-term home. The $45-million annual average value would have set the Major League Baseball record. The Dodgers offered Harper a four-year, $180-million contract, according to people with knowledge of the situation. He was, somehow, living up to the dizzying hype that followed him from high school to his major league debut as a 19-year-old wunderkind at Dodger Stadium in 2012. He had a knack for big moments, supplying two significant home runs in his postseason career and winning the home run derby at his home stadium, Nationals Park, in 2018. Harper was a one-time MVP and six-time All-Star in seven seasons with the Washington Nationals. The group included Dodgers majority owner Mark Walter, president Stan Kasten, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and manager Dave Roberts. In February 2019, with Harper inexplicably still on the free-agent market after players reported for spring training, a contingent of Dodgers officials traveled to Las Vegas, Harper’s hometown, to meet with the outfielder. Harper smashed a go-ahead, two-run home run, Citizens Bank Park exploded and the Phillies advanced to the World Series for the first time since 2009 to face the Houston Astros on Harper’s broad shoulders. ![]() Long continued: “I just thought to myself: ‘Something special can happen here.’ ” “The take on that changeup, I can’t say it enough,” Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long said recently. It was a master class in plate discipline in the biggest spot of his career, in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. He instantly recognized a nasty changeup falling off the table from San Diego Padres right-hander Robert Suárez’s hand and laid off. The split-second decision that differentiates Bryce Harper from most of his peers was made before the swing that will be forever etched in Philadelphia sports lore.īefore driving a 2-2 count, 99-mph fastball over the outside corner the other way to lift the Philadelphia Phillies to the World Series, Harper chose not to swing.
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