Bryce Harper thinks that something was fishy about this year’s Home Run Derby.
The Philadelphia Phillies All-Star first baseman Harper spoke this week to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. During the interview, Harper made a major accusation about the Home Run Derby — he believes that the balls used in the competition were juiced.
“They’re juiced,” Harper was quoted as saying. “Everybody knows it. They do it every year.”
Heyman adds however that Major League Baseball has already denied that the baseballs in the Home Run Derby were juiced, claiming that they were no different and treated no differently than the ones used in the regular season. You can read Heyman’s full feature at the link here.
Harper, the former NL MVP, competed in this year’s Home Run Derby at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pa. (after previously participating in 2013 and then later winning the event in 2018). While Harper was eliminated in the first round this year, he notably produced a 482-foot bomb (trailing only Willson Contreras’ 490 and Junior Caminero’s 487 and 491 for the longest homer of the night).
This year’s Home Run Derby had an exciting finish in which Jordan Walker upset Kyle Schwarber in a dramatic final round to win the competition. But Harper seems a bit salty with the way the event played out, which might explain why he recently proposed that MLB should lean into a full-on gimmicky HR Derby for the future.
