Jayson Werth always had a hunch his pal Bryce Harper would end up a Phillie
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CLEARWATER, Fla. – On the one-year anniversary of his decision to join the Phillies, Bryce Harper received a visit from an old friend Friday.
The visitor did not need directions to the Phillies’ clubhouse. Jayson Werth spent four seasons with the Phils and helped the team win the World Series in 2008 before moving on to Washington, where he played with Harper for six seasons.
Werth became a mentor to Harper in Washington and as Harper’s service-time clock ticked toward free agency, Werth always believed there was a chance his friend would find his way to Philadelphia.
“I always thought this would be a possible destination for him, even way back when, for a bunch of reasons,” Werth said. “Kind of where the team was, the money was right, the owner was right, the town’s right.
“But more than anything else,” Werth added with widening eyes, “Citizens Bank Park is just an awesome place to hit. We always talked about that.
“I don’t want people to think I was pushing him there. As players, you just have those conversations. We talked about every stadium while we were stretching in the outfield, while we were on airplanes. I couldn’t even figure out how many hours I spent talking to this kid, so stuff like that comes up.”
In his seven seasons with the Nationals from 2011 to 2017, Werth tormented the Phillies by hitting .291 with a .922 OPS, 15 homers and 45 RBIs in 52 games.
Werth’s 16 career homers in Citizens Bank Park – he hit one as a member of the Dodgers – are second-most at the park by a visiting hitter. David Wright of the New York Mets hit 22 in the park.
Harper hit .260 with an .882 OPS, 35 homers and 114 RBIs in his first season with the Phillies last year. He had a .939 OPS, 20 homers and 63 RBIs at home.
Werth had a love-hate relationship with Phillies fans. They mostly loved him when he wore the red pinstripes and mostly rode him when he moved on to Washington.
He laughs about it now.
“As bad as they can be, they can also be really good,” Werth said. “I took it with a grain of salt. It was kind of fun. I was getting booed off the field and at the same time, I was probably playing my best baseball every game I was there. So it was good. It raises everything.”
By now Philadelphia fans are familiar with Harper’s fiery, hair-flying style of play.
“I always thought that would be something Philadelphia would love,” Werth said.
Werth retired in 2018 so both he and Harper were gone from Washington when the Nationals, after failing to make it past the Division Series four times in seven years, finally won the World Series last fall.
Harper watched the entire World Series on television and was thrilled for his old friends.
Werth actually attended the World Series games in Washington and was in attendance for the Nats’ Game 7 clincher in Houston.
He felt he had to be.
“I was looking for closure,” he said. “It felt like it closed the book on my career, like mission accomplished, job well done.
“I signed there when nobody wanted anything to do with that place. Harper was a first-round pick when they were coming off 100-loss seasons. Me, Bryce, Ian Desmond, Ryan Zimmerman and a bunch of other guys in 2011 and 2012 kind of turned the franchise around and the fruits of that labor were ripe for the picking last year, finally. So I was elated for those guys and the owners, the front office, (GM) Mike Rizzo, the whole thing.”
Werth did not visit the victorious Washington clubhouse after Game 7.
“That wasn’t for me,” he said. “It was for those guys.”
Harper is entering the second season of a 13-year, $330-million contract with the Phillies. The Phillies are banking on him leading the club to a World Series title one of these years.
It’s something Harper, a former National League Rookie of the Year and MVP, badly wants.
“He wants to win,” Werth said. “He’s got everything. There’s really not much on the list for him except that.
“He’s the type of kid that grew up wanting to be a Hall of Famer. Most kids grow up wanting to be big leaguers. He grew up wanting to be a Hall of Famer. The ring, winning a championship, the parade, all that stuff comes with it. That’s not a stretch for me to think those are things he wants.”
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