Harper went 0 for 3 in his home debut. Bryce Harper was the No. 1 pick in the 2010 draft, and is 2 for 9 since being called up from the minors on Saturday.
There was certainly an enthusiastic reception from the smallish crowd of 22,675 when he stepped to the plate for the first time in the second inning. However, Harper struck out on four pitches, and missed badly on his three swings. Despite this, he was cheered by the crowd as he walked back to the dugout.
In the fifth inning, he grounded out on a 3-2 pitch. In his final at-bat, in the seventh, he again grounded out.
However, as "The Chosen One," Bryce Harper was expected to star in the field as well as at the bat. Playing left field, in the seventh inning he nearly threw out a runner on a sacrifice fly with a 300-foot, on-the-fly, arrow from left field to home plate. Later, Harper said, "I just thought I had a shot. Reared back and gave it my all. That's what I try to do, make plays like that."
You can watch that amazing throw embedded below. For any other left fielder, this probably would have been a no-thought sac fly.
Even Arizona Diamondbacks manager and former major leaguer Kirk Gibson said, "It kind of surprised me. We knew he had a solid arm, but it was a pretty impressive throw."
Indeed the throw was impressive. Even more impressive is the fact that the runner was out. You can't see it from the angles in the video, but you can see it in the image above. He was definitely out (image courtesy of Twitter and @MrIrrelevantDC).
In his major league debut on April 28, Bryce Harper doubled in his third at-bat as his only hit, but also contributed by hitting a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning for the then go-ahead run. He also again showed his arm off, as on that day, as well, he nearly nailed a runner at home plate with a perfect throw from left field.
Image Source Twitter
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