Bryce Harper and wife Kayla announce first child coming this summer

Embed from Getty Images

Bryce and Kayla Harper expecting  first child in August 2019

In most of the interviews given by Bryce Harper in the aftermath of his agreeing to a 13-year, $330 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies the topic of family was a central theme.

“Beyond the money, years were important to me, being able to put down some roots and grow a family,” Harper said right after the deal was announced per Jim Salisbury at NBC Sports Philadelphia. “At the end of this, I could have a couple of kids and they could be able to say they’re from Philly.”

Well, it didn’t take long for the new Phillies superstar right fielder and wife Kayla to make good on that possibility. It was learned over the last few hours that the couple are expecting their first child in August. The timing would indicate that they conceived back in November, meaning that they certainly knew of the pregnancy when the deal was being announced.

The official announcement came, as happens so often here in the 21st century, through a social media post. Kayla Harper posted a photo of the couple standing underneath the Ben Franklin Bridge holding a child’s jacket with the name “Baby Harper” and her husband’s uniform #3 on the back.

Bryce Harper's Coming Out Party

In writing up my final MLB Power Ranking last week, I finished up the Washington Nationals comments with this line: "I believe that this postseason could very well be Bryce Harper's true launching pad to on-field stardom."

The Nats finished 2nd in the Power Ranking and were the team that I believed were best positioned to win the World Series. The San Francisco Giants killed that possibility by dumping Washington in four games in one of the National League Division Series.

But the postseason performance of Harper, limited to those four games as it was, may indeed have been that launching pad. Harper launched a few himself, blasting 3 homeruns. He also scored 4 runs and knocked in 4. He hit .294, registering a .368 on-base percentage, an .882 slugging percentage, and had an OPS of 1.251 as well.

Harper began his assault on Giants pitching in the bottom of the 7th inning of Game 1 with the Nats trailing 3-0. Against reliever Hunter Strickland, Harper led off and absolutely crushed a titanic shot into the right field upper deck at Nationals Park to get the Nats on the board.

Harper, who appears to thrive under pressure in dramatic situations, sensed the importance of getting the Nats crowd back into the game: "Get some runs on the board, get this crowd back into it. Getting them going was very exciting." It wouldn't ultimately be enough, as San Fran held on to win 3-2, going up 1-0 in the series.

Game 2 would prove to be historic, the longest postseason game by time in MLB history, tied for the longest by innings.