In his first base office, Bryce Harper pays it forward with the MLB’s young hitters

Corbin Carroll walked five pitches in the third inning of a forgettable Friday night in June. He had experienced the biggest thrill of his burgeoning career at Citizens Bank Park last October, but as he jogged to first base he was hitting .217. His self-confidence was wavering. Bryce Harper greeted Carroll. He placed his right hand on Carroll’s shoulder.

“I have something for you,” Harper said.

“Okay,” Carroll said, “text me, text me.”

“No,” Harper said. “It’s nothing swing-wise. Just remember what name is on your back.

Harper tapped Carroll’s shoulder. That’s it. The outfielder of the Arizona Diamondbacks went 0-for-7 in the remainder of the series, but in the following weeks he came out of his slump. Harper had not given Carroll a detailed solution to his swing. He had heard similar advice before.

But Harper’s words stuck with the 24-year-old outfielder.

“We’re clearly competitors to him, right?” said Caroll. “And the way last year ended for them, there was virtually no reason for him to be that way other than he did it out of the goodness of his heart and knowing how hard this game is. That is something I certainly hope to emulate.”

6/21/24: Bryce Harper reminds Corbin Carroll to remember the name on his back

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— Grace Del Pizzo (@GraceDelPizzo) July 6, 2024

Harper’s first full season as a first baseman is almost over. He has had another productive year with the Philadelphia Phillies. He finishes in the top 10 of the National League MVP voting. He could be a Gold Glove Award finalist at first base. He’s had his ups and downs. He played through nasty injuries. He has a chance to win a World Series ring next month.

But around the sport, opponents are starting to see a version of Harper that was previously shrouded. He will be 32 years old in October. He played thirteen seasons in the Majors. The game has changed since he debuted; Harper has embraced his place in a sport that is now younger and doesn’t punish personality.

He has found a home at first base.

“I feel like,” Harper said, “it’s helped me love the game more.”

If a young hitter walked into Harper’s office at first base this season, there’s a chance the superstar had something to tell him. Sometimes it was innocent swing advice or a congratulations to a player on his debut. Sometimes it was simple reassurance. It all mattered because it came from Harper – often unsolicited.

The word spread quickly. Earlier this month, a young player reached the top spot and Harper nodded to him.

“Hey man,” the player said to Harper. “Everyone in the league tells me I need to talk to you about my swing.”

Harper knows what this is going to sound like. How could he help an opponent? This isn’t the same game he took part in as a wide-eyed 19-year-old. His stubbornness was perceived as a threat at the time. He wielded a gray bat before his big league debut on April 28, 2012, prompting a letter from Major League Baseball telling him he could no longer use it. He remembered trying to break the ice with Buster Posey, one of the greatest catchers of his era.

“What’s wrong, Buster?” a young Harper said to him.

Silence.

“He stoned me,” Harper said. ‘But later in his career he talks to me. That’s just how the game worked.”

The same goes for Chipper Jones and Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki – guys who Harper idolized and then shared a court. They weren’t bad people, Harper learned; they held themselves to a standard. This was the way.

Two months into Harper’s career, the Washington Nationals played the New York Yankees. Harper was on second base. Derek Jeter made eye contact. “You’re a great player,” Harper recalled Jeter telling him. “You’ll have a great career. Congratulations.” Harper couldn’t believe it.

“Damn it,” he said. “That’s Derek Jeter.”

Bryce Harper, 19, talks to Derek Jeter, 38, during his 2012 rookie season. (G Fiume/Getty Images)

A few months ago, 23-year-old Minnesota Twins infielder Brooks Lee reached first base against the Phillies. Lee was 11 when Harper made his debut. He’s seen Harper’s entire career. Lee told him who he was and Harper’s eyes lit up; Lee’s father, Larry, is a longtime baseball coach at Cal Poly.

“When I was a kid,” Brooks Lee said, “my dad told me he thinks he was the first guy to go to Bryce Harper and recruit him. I told him that.”

Harper remembered.

“That,” he said, “was one of my first letters in the mail.”

It was the second inning at Target Field. Harper had homered an inning earlier. “Hey,” Lee said to him, “nice swing.” Harper gave some tips. Nothing Lee hadn’t heard before. They went their own way.

Back in the day, when Harper played right field, he admitted his mind wandered. “You start thinking about your at-bats,” Harper said. “You think about this, you think about that.” He grew up as a catcher and third baseman. He had to be engaged while he was on the sand. That’s when Harper’s play was at its purest.

The move to first base has reignited some of those feelings. This is why Harper started talking to opponents more.

“It also means you can see the human element,” Harper said. “You know how intense I am on the baseball field. I am a very intense person. But talking to them makes sure you don’t get so intense that it’s just overbearing.

Over time, he has become more approachable to his younger teammates. He regularly has conversations with Alec Bohm about the mental side of hitting. He wants to be considered one of the best ever – and someone who cares.

“Obviously, when we play against them, I don’t want to help them,” Harper said. “So I think it’s give and take. But I’m also not afraid that other players will be successful. I don’t want them to have success against us. Not me. But I never want them to lack confidence in their abilities.

“I want every guy who goes to the big leagues to have real success and enjoy what he does. Enjoy every moment. Find gratitude in the moment. Find gratitude in the struggle. Find gratitude in the moment of success. Enjoy the success. Enjoy the battle too.”

Bryce Harper often talks hitting with younger teammates like Alec Bohm. (Eric Hartline/USA Today/Imagn Images)

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. shuffled toward Harper after drawing a walk during an early May game at Citizens Bank Park. Guerrero had homered just four times in his first 36 games. Harper glanced at the scoreboard and saw the 25-year-old’s dull numbers.

“If you clean this up a little bit, I think you’re leaving,” Harper recalled telling Guerrero. “You’re going to have a great year.”

The two stars, Guerrero said, had pinky-pledged not to discuss the details. Harper said it was a small thing, something Guerrero had already heard. He took no credit for Guerrero’s torrid four months since they spoke. For Harper, it’s a funny coincidence.

“It’s crazy because I’m struggling with myself, right?” Harper said. “Like, I’m sitting there thinking, ‘How can I not get myself out so quickly?’ Because the game is difficult and humiliating. But if I can make someone else click – my teammate or someone else – then I find joy in that.”

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bryce Harper laugh together at first base this season. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

Near the end of last season, when the Phillies played the New York Mets, Harper shared an observation with rookie infielder Mark Vientos. “Hey, you have a lot of power,” Harper told him. “You don’t have to swing as hard as you do.” It was simple. It became something Vientos often thought about.

“I mean, it means a lot,” Vientos said. “Bryce Harper is someone I looked up to watching the game. Getting advice from one of the best players is obviously useful.”

Colorado Rockies outfielder Brenton Doyle, who examined his swing before the season, grew up a Nationals fan. In April, Harper tapped him on the leg and told him he liked the new approach. ‘I knew a man like him once said that to me’ Doyle told MLB Network Radio“I’m doing something right.”

Harper was the favorite player of Atlanta Braves outfielder Jarred Kelenic as a child. Kelenic wanted to follow his path. A few years ago he was afraid to introduce himself. He didn’t want to bother Harper.

Now he’s had a chance to talk to Harper at first base. Harper tells Kelenic to stay in the ball. Be brief. Use most of the field. The batting jargon passed down in every cage.

Kelenic appreciates how approachable Harper has become.

“I definitely saw him talking to some guys,” Kelenic said. “First base is a good place to be handsome.”

Carroll even credited another former Phillie, Marlon Byrd, with unlocking his swing this summer – as detailed in a recent Arizona Republic story. But he has come to view Harper’s gesture as symbolic. “Part of that is the game is getting younger,” Carroll said, “and younger players are increasingly being relied on to play an everyday role.” Harper was once on an island and caught everyone’s attention as a teenager. He never forgot it.

“I just want them all to enjoy this moment,” Harper said. “Just go play your game. Because you don’t have to be the big guy. There comes a time when you have to be the man.”

Sometimes Harper sounds wistful about those days when he wasn’t The Guy. He’s 31 and more than half of his life has been under a microscope. He is now the father of three children; the constant attention can be tiring. Perhaps that’s why he’s connected with the sport’s youngest players.

Maybe he just likes to talk about baseball.

“It was super cool,” Carroll said, “for someone in his position to act like that and be like that.”

Harper laughs at some of the interactions now that this news has spread. When a rookie reached first base earlier this season, Harper congratulated him on making it to the Majors.

“It’s strange that you know my name,” the newcomer said. “I’m going to tell my father!”

Another young player was the one who first told Harper that everyone in the league was talking about his swing advice. “What do you mean?” Harper said. It’s just this thing, the player told him. He wanted to go in.

“What do you have?” he asked Harper.

Harper looked at him.

“I’m not a goddamn king helping you,” Harper said.

The two started laughing. Harper gave advice; he doesn’t even know what anymore. It was probably a cliché. But it meant something because it came from him. The feeling is mutual. At home at first base, Harper found joy in paying it forward.

“It’s great,” Harper said. “It’s great. They’re still kids, man. They are still kids just playing the game.”

—The Athletic’s Dan Hayes, Kaitlyn McGrath and David O’Brien contributed to this report.

(Top image: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletics. Bryce Harper, center: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images; Harper and Brooks Lee, left: Brace Hemmelgarn / Getty Images; Harper, right: Ed Zurga / Getty Images)