Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber put on a show for the ages in the final round of the Home Run Derby Monday night. A last-minute rampage by Harper made him the derby champion in front of his home-town fans and despite some controversy everyone had a blast.
To get to the championship round, Schwarber had to hit 21 home runs and advanced past the semifinals with a buzzer-beater dinger. That part of the show definitely caught Harper's attention.
Yet, if there's one player on the Chicago Cubs that almost everyone can agree is the most exciting to watch it's definitely Javier Baez. The first-time All-Star starter also competed in the HR derby and although his 16 homers weren't enough to advance to the semifinals, he did hit this 479-foot bomb.
Baez also singled on the very first pitch he saw from Chris Sale in the All-Star Game and following the 8-6 win for the American League, Harper expressed his fondness for Baez. Via the Chicago Sun-Times.
Harper knows plenty about swagger and also being on the receiving end of criticism for the way he plays the game, so it's no surprise that he's a fan of Baez, who doesn't cater to the traditional profile of what a baseball player "should" be like. So, already best friends with Kris Bryant and now Baez is one of his favorite players? Bryce Harper to the Cubs confirmed. 😉There was the expected fawning over Nationals stars Bryce Harper and Max Scherzer. But no one moved the needle with fellow All-Stars more than Baez. An example of this came when Harper, after winning the Home Run Derby, turned a question about the Braves’ Freddie Freeman into an answer about Baez.
“Baez, he’s one of my favorite players in all of baseball,” Harper said. “Just the way he plays, his swag and the way he plays the game, the way he uncoils and the way he thinks.”
Willson too! KB might be getting jealous.
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