Bryce Harper Updates Status for 2026 MLB Home Run Derby at Phillies' Citizens Bank Park

Major League Baseball's All-Star Game is in Philadelphia this year, and Bryce Harper plans on participating in the Home Run Derby in front of the home fans.

That is, if he can find the right pitcher.

"It's a big thing," he told reporters. "You can't just pick somebody random. Also with it being the swings and not the timing on the clock—if I don't get any pitches I can hit, swing-wise I'm in trouble. And I'm not going to do something if I'm going to have a half-mentality toward it because I'm worried about the pitcher.

"If I'm going to do it, I'm going to be full bore and very confident in winning it. I'm not going out there just to have fun. I'm going out there to win it."

Harper won the event in 2018 with his father pitching to him, but he doesn't plan on running things back.

"I'm super comfortable with my dad throwing to me my whole life, but he hasn't thrown in a while," he said. "I don't even think he can get ready for it. It's a lot of pitches in one night. I don't want to put him in that situation."

Philadelphia's last Home Run Derby winner came in 2006 when Ryan Howard won the event, but it could be in an ideal position to add another champion to its history in front of the home fans if Harper and Kyle Schwarber each participate.

Schwarber leads the league with 30 home runs after launching 56 last season.

As for Harper, the two-time National League MVP already has 20 home runs this season and is just 17 away from the 400th of his career. He led the league with 42 in 2015 and has five different campaigns with at least 30.

If he remains healthy, he could add a sixth this season.

Harper is a generational slugger, and it seems like he will take the chance to remind everyone of that at the Home Run Derby as long as he can solve the pitcher riddle.