Bryce Harper had a career performance in the Philadelphia Phillies 15-3 rout over the New York Mets on Saturday night.
The Phillies first baseman became the 11th player in franchise history to hit for the cycle, the first Phillie to do so since utility man Weston Wilson in August of 2024. Harper went 4-for-5 with 10 total bases and accounted for a fifth of the Phillies run production (three RBI).
Harper, a 15-year veteran, had never hit for the cycle in his big league career, with the last time coming in college in a Super Regionals game, according to the two-time MVP. In that game, Harper said he went 7-for-7 with four home runs.
Bryce Harper went to a heavier bat to help him stay on the ball longer
Coming into the game, Harper was 1-for-his-last-22 (seven games) and had seven strikeouts. Heading into Saturday night’s game, the eight-time All-Star opted to swing a heavier bat than normal to try to stay through the baseball.
“I switched to a 34-35 [oz bat] today, so I switched to a plus one, which is crazy,” Harper said postgame. “It’s actually my heavy bat from the cage, so I switched to that today. I just felt like I needed to stay through the ball a little bit more, and was able to do that, and, like I said, I don’t know if it translated to the game or anything else, but what a night to be able to have, and what an opportunity to get in there and do that.”
It would seem that the adjustment Harper made carried over, given he hit for the cycle. Despite his recent skid, Harper has been having a solid month of June, batting .250 with a .889 OPS, three home runs, nine RBI and one more walk (14) than he has strikeouts (13).
Harper’s strong month of June hasn’t been helping his All-Star chances, as he was ranked third (651,792 votes) in the first round of polling released on June 15. Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman (870,606) and Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson (802,848) hold the one and two spots ahead of Harper.