Don’t expect Bryce Harper to participate in the Home Run Derby anytime soon.
The Nationals slugger is one of the game’s elite hitters, and many fans would like to see him participate in the derby. So why isn’t he? He just doesn’t want to.
“I just don’t want to, plain and simple,” Harper said Tuesday, via ESPN’s Eddie Matz. “I just don’t really wanna do it. I just want to enjoy my time, sit on the side and watch it a little bit.”
Harper did the derby once in 2013, and he attributed his reluctance this time around to fatigue.
“I don’t know about draining,” Harper said. “Definitely it’s a lot of swings and what not. Yeah, you could say draining — why not? But it’s just, I don’t know, I don’t want to go out there and swing and swing and swing, I guess.”
The problem with the Home Run Derby is that a lot of people do it once and then never again. It struggles to attract the star power it once did. Teams fear injury, some players fear messing up their swing, and it can be a tiring experience, particularly if you go deep into the competition. There’s a reason that it’s a gaggle of pitchers who are most enthusiastic about participating.
