Bryce Harper drawn to Phillies in part because of ‘tailor-made’ Citizens Bank Park’s potential to up his home run numbers

Free-agent slugger didn't request an opt-out clause in part because of the opportunity to put up big numbers in the Phillies' hitter-friendly ballpark.

Bryce Harper of the Nationals against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Sept. 11, 2018. CHARLES FOX / Staff PhotographerRead more

by Scott Lauber

Published Feb. 28, 2019, 8:07 p.m. ET

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- At a time when the opt-out clause has become an almost standard feature in free-agent contracts, Bryce Harper didn’t want one from the Phillies.

Not when Citizens Bank Park might just be his field of dreams.

Since he made his major-league debut in 2012, Harper is one of 29 players with a slugging percentage of .500 or better in at least 500 at-bats, an achievement that he reached despite playing his home games in a hitter-neutral stadium in Washington. But playing three series per season at the Phillies’ hitter-friendly ballpark enabled him to imagine the numbers that he could put up if he was able to test the its limits with his left-handed swing 81 times a year.

Harper factored that into his decision on Tuesday -- 118 days into his free agency -- to accept a 13-year, $330 million offer from the Phillies that includes a no-trade clause but not an opt-out.

“If Bryce Harper were to be part of our lineup, the sky’s the limit for him. Really no ceiling,” said Phillies manager Gabe Kapler, who couched his comments because the deal is still pending a physical. “We saw what he could do in 2015, arguably one of the best seasons of the last 20 years at the plate. Citizens Bank Park is kind of tailor-made for him to perform. If the reports are true that Bryce Harper is now a Phillie, we would be really excited because of the damage he could do in that ballpark.”

Harper, a Las Vegas native, was believed to prefer playing on the West Coast and had offers from the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers. But there was no evidence to suggest that he didn’t want to come to Philadelphia, and the ballpark always figured to be one of the Phillies’ biggest drawing cards.

In 208 career plate appearances at Citizens Bank Park, Harper has gone deep 14 times, more than in any road ballpark. He has a .564 slugging percentage and .930 on-base plus slugging in Philadelphia compared with .518 and .912 at Nationals Park.

What $330 Million Is Worth

Here’s a look at how much money Bryce Harper could make over the next 13 seasons, on average, based on his performance so far in his major-league career:

Per pitch seen

Per plate appearance

Per game

$11,132

$44,906

$191,685

Roughly equal to the annual salary of a minimum-wage worker in Pennsylvania who works four days a week ($12,064)

More than the median household income in Philadelphia ($39,759)

More than annual salary of a newly elected member of Congress ($174,000)

SOURCES: baseball-reference.com; U.S. Census Bureau; Congressional Research Service

JOHN DUCHNESKIE / Staff Artist

What $330 Million Is Worth

Here’s a look at how much money Bryce Harper could make over the next

13 seasons, on average, based on his performance so far in his major-league career:

Per pitch seen

$11,132

Roughly equal to the annual salary of a minimum-wage worker in Pennsylvania who works four days a week ($12,064)

Per plate appearance

$44,906

More than the median household income in Philadelphia ($39,759)

Per game

$191,685

More than annual salary of a newly elected member of Congress ($174,000)

SOURCES: baseball-reference.com; U.S. Census Bureau; Congressional Research Service

JOHN DUCHNESKIE / Staff Artist

Harper won the all-star Home Run Derby in Washington last July. But before he outslugged a field that included the Phillies’ Rhys Hoskins, he handicapped the hitting conditions at Nationals Park.

“There’s a corner out in right field that the ball doesn’t travel at all,” said Harper, a left-handed hitter. “So, the right field triangle corner, it’s absolutely terrible.”

Harper won’t have that problem in South Philadelphia, where he will take aim at a right-field power alley that measures 369 feet and a right-field line that is 330 feet.

“I think the city of Philadelphia would embrace Bryce Harper,” Kapler said. “I think he would be very happy in this city because our fans care deeply about winning.”

It helps, too, that the ballpark could be his personal launching pad.