Bryce Harper has shown off his speed at every level in his baseball life. On Monday night, Harper displayed that speed once again but this time during a home run trot.
The 19-year-old rookie has torn into major league pitching since being called up on April 27, and on Monday he hit his first career home run. Harper was so excited by the experience that he flew around the bases in near record time, coming in as the second-fastest home run trot of the season.
Harper made it from the batters box, around the bases and back again in a blazing 17.07 seconds during Washington’s 8-5 win at Nationals Park. Harper’s trot fel just .61 miliseconds behind Milwaukee’s Carlos Gomez, who circled the bases in just 16.46 seconds on April 24 against Houston.
Harper did knock out another long ball on Tuesday in the Nationals 6-1 loss, but he wasn’t quite as speedy the second time around. Through 16 games, Harper is hitting just .233 with two home runs and five RBIs.