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Bryce Harper Explains How He Was Able to Flush His Outfield Blunder and Respond with a Homer
By Matt Schultz
Published:
Bryce Harper was public enemy number one – until he wasn’t.
Game tied 1-1, bottom of the 7th, man on first and second, one out. Drake Baldwin hit a routine fly ball to right field. Bryce stood under it, weirdly rotated his feet/hips, backed up, put his arm up, and let the ball bounce off the tip of his glove and roll to the warning track. It was a nightmare:
The play allowed one run to score, extended the inning so the Braves could tack on another one, and spurred group texts all over the Delaware Valley to say things about Bryce they surely would not like to go public.
But Bryce wasn’t about to let the blunder define his game. In the top of the 8th – only about twenty minutes after the fielding misplay – he responded by going yard right after Kyle Schwarber hit a homer, tying the game at 3-3:
It was a pretty remarkable bounce back. Bryce’s mistake was one of the more inexcusable, baffling, pure choke-job plays I’ve seen in a long time, and somehow, some way, he was able to compartmentalize his feelings about it almost instantly and hit a clutch-as-hell home run.
Isn’t that nuts? I think that’s nuts. If I were in his shoes, there’s no way I’d be able to function after that error (it was scored a hit but it was for sure an error). I would’ve walked off the field and gotten in my car and driven home. I would’ve slept terrible last night. I would’ve been thinking about missing that catch non-stop and watching Reels to try to distract myself to no avail until my eyes stung and my head hurt. I think 99.9% of people would do the same.
So how did Bryce flush it so fast and turn the page? He was asked about it post-game:
“I’ll tell you what, I was thinking about Krew. My son. You know, what I would say to him in that situation. You know, I think it’s a learning situation — not just for myself, but for everybody else as well. I think you try to flush it as quick as possible, and — I grew up playing in a lot of big games. I’ve said it in the past about the postseason and, you know, playing huge games that people are counting on you from the time you’re 10 years old, all the way til now. I don’t think people understand what that feels like or looks like, cause when you guys were 10 years old, you probably weren’t playing in front of 3,000 people, you know, yelling and screaming at you, wondering why you’re not the player you wanna be or anything else. So, I’ve been through a lot of situations to get me to this point. And, you know, you make a play like that, and I’m hearing it out there obviously. But how quickly can I turn the page and just get past that moment, knowing that I’m still coming up to the plate to hit? And knowing that in the postseason, it doesn’t matter what you did the at-bat before, the inning before — it’s what you do in that moment. So for me, everybody’s gonna make mistakes at some point. But it’s how you come through in the next situation. So, it’s not that serious, to tell you the truth. You know? I think people take it very seriously, and uh — don’t get me wrong, I take it serious — but I think there’s a mindset, especially for kids nowadays, parents and coaches put so much pressure on kids these days to have to come through and be great. But for me, it’s: How can you learn from each situation that you’re in to come out great in the next one?“
This is awesome. The quote sits in stark contrast from the canned answers and autopilot, pandering nonsense players usually feed the media, and it’s really refreshing to hear. Bryce gave some real, honest insight into how he was actually feeling and thinking in those heavy, difficult moments after the missed catch, and it’s fascinating. He’s right. Very few people alive have lived through the pressure cooker he has since he was 10 years old, and it’s interesting to think about how those experiences shaped him and prepared him for a moment like this. What a trip that must be, growing up like that.
The payoff is high, for sure. He became one of the best players in modern baseball, and has the mental fortitude to pull off that homer in Game 2. But you high a steep price to get there. I wouldn’t want 3,000 people yelling at me when I was a little kid. I wouldn’t want that now. Sounds bad. Seems like Bryce understands that math better than anyone, too. Interesting stuff.
In any event, I appreciate the big home run, the Bryce bounce-back, the Phils win, and the cool quote. Bryce did good here. I’m glad he was only our enemy for twenty-ish minutes there.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com