In his one previous appearance in the Home Run Derby back in 2013 in Citi Field, Nationals’ slugger Bryce Harper finished second behind Yoenis Cespedes. He hasn’t participated in a Derby since, though he’s been an All-Star in four of the five seasons.
This year, with the All-Star Game in the nation’s capital, Harper signed on to participate again.
“If we weren’t in D.C., I probably wouldn’t have done it,” Harper acknowledged. “But looking forward to going out there and represent the Nationals and hopefully bring home a trophy.”
MLB released the bracket for the T-Mobile HR Derby tonight, and it has Harper, who has the second-most home runs in the National League right now, seeded second out of the eight hitters, in a first-round matchup with Atlanta Braves’ slugger Freddie Freeman, who’s hit 16 homers so far in 2018, and has always hit well in Nationals Park (.