Bryce Harper mashes 465-foot blast for first home run with Phillies
It is the second longest home run of Harper's career, according to Statcast
By
Mike Axisa
•
1 min read
It did not take Bryce Harper long to make up for his hitless debut with the Phillies on Opening Day.
Saturday afternoon against the Braves (GameTracker), Harper slugged his first home run with his new team, and it was a no-doubter. Harper leaned into a Jesse Biddle offering and slugging it 465 feet to right field. To the very necessary video:
I wouldn't call it textbook, but gosh, there is some serious anger to Harper's swing. He is up there looking to inflict pain on the baseball. The Citizens Bank Park faithful of course gave Harper a curtain call:
Curtain call for Bryce Harper as he hits his first HR in a #Phillies uniform (and Citizens Bank Park goes crazy!) pic.twitter.com/1cvh4O4zKH
— Marly Rivera (@MarlyRiveraESPN) March 30, 2019
That home run left Harper's bat at 113.7 mph. He hit exactly one ball that hard all of last season. Also, at 465 feet, it is ...
- ... Harper's second longest homer since Statcast debuted in 2015 (473 feet in 2018).
- ... the second longest Phillies homer in the Statcast era (Maikel Franco at 471 feet in 2016).
- ... the second longest home run at Citizens Bank Park in the Statcast era (Matt Olson at 483 feet in 2017).
- ... the second longest home run in the early days of 2019 (Nomar Mazara at 482 feet on Opening Day).
Bryce Harper still has 12 years and 160 games remaining on his record $330 million contract. I imagine he has another 300-something home runs still to hit as a Phillie.
