Watch Nationals’ Bryce Harper break his bat while smashing a home run against the Mets
Bryce Harper should have a pretty cool souvenir from his latest home run — the barrel of the bat he hit it with.
The Washington Nationals slugger smashed a 95 mph fastball from New York Mets pitcher Jacob deGrom 406 feet into right-center field for his Major League Baseball-leading eighth home run of the season.
As he ran down the first-base line, Harper carried a few inches of the bat’s handle with him. It was the part of the bat left in his hand after the splintering hit. The rest of it went flying back into the protective netting behind home plate as a result of the impact.
“Barreled it pretty good,” said Harper, who flexed his biceps as he celebrated while returning to the dugout. “It just broke and kept going.”
In his seventh major league season, Harper now has 158 home runs.
The highlight-reel moment gave the Nationals a 1-0 lead in the first inning. They would go on to claim an 8-6 victory at Citi Field in New York. Still, deGrom ended up having a decent outing, giving up three runs and six hits in 7 1/3 innings.
“Yeah, that was pretty shocking,” deGrom said of Harper’s home run. “I heard the bat break and then I looked, I saw [right fielder Brandon] Nimmo. He just kept going, so I was like, ‘Oh well, I guess that’s out of here.’”
Twitter: @chewkiii
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
