Bryce Harper is already on the Home Run Derby winners list. He’s been there since 2018, when he crushed homers at Nationals Park as a member of the Washington Nationals. But now he’s trying to add his name to a much shorter list — one where the winner also happened to be playing in his own ballpark.
The 2026 All-Star festivities are in Philadelphia, which means Harper gets to swing for the fences at Citizens Bank Park in front of his own crowd. The Derby is July 13, the day before the All-Star Game on the 14th. If he wins, he’ll join Todd Frazier and the late Ryne Sandberg as the only guys to pull off the home-park Derby win. Frazier did it in Cincinnati in 2015. Sandberg set the precedent way back in 1990 at Wrigley Field.
According to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, Harper has a shot at making it three. And he’s got the bat to do it.
So far this season, Harper is hitting .264 with 86 hits, 20 home runs and 57 RBIs. Not his best year statistically but still solid. And he’s been named a Legend Pick by Commissioner Rob Manfred for the All-Star Game, alongside Detroit’s Justin Verlander. That’s a nod to career achievement as much as current production.
Harper’s resume is ridiculous when you stack it up. Nine-time All-Star. Two-time National League MVP (2015 and 2021). Rookie of the Year in 2012. Four Silver Sluggers. And in 2022, he was NLCS MVP after hitting a massive home run in Game 5 against the Padres that sent the Phillies to the World Series. They lost to the Astros in six games, but that run cemented his legacy in Philly.
Harper has always had a flair for the dramatic. Winning a Home Run Derby in front of 40,000 screaming Phillies fans would be another one of those moments. And it would put him in a category with just two other sluggers in MLB history.
That’s not bad company.
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