Bryce Harper: Top 10 Moments with the Washington Nationals

9 – Grand Slam vs Braves for Number 100

Only Bryce Harper would find a way to hit his first ever grand slam as his 100th career home run with the Washington Nationals. And that was exactly what happened against the Atlanta Braves in mid-April of 2016 as he looked to build on his MVP campaign in 2015.

You could sense something was brewing as it was Julio Teheran on the mound, who Harper has had incredible success against in his career. Throughout his seven big league seasons, he’s hit .450 off the right-hander with a startling 1.702 OPS in 52 ABs against him.

Harper was continuing an early season barrage after his 2015 MVP season and eclipsed the landmark in style. Matt den Dekker, Chris Heisey, and Anthony Rendon occupied the bases. That set the stage for his piece of history.

The outfielder was the eighth youngest player in MLB history to reach the century mark in long balls at 23 years and 181 days old. It’s a pretty prestigious group, as the eight reaching it at a younger age were Mel Ott, Tony Conigliaro, Eddie Mathews, Alex Rodriguez, Andruw Jones, Miguel Cabrera, and Johnny Bench.

He also told Bill Ladson after the game about a special person in the crowd that day that he was able to please. “It was awesome. It was my mom’s birthday, so I was able to hit her a homer,” as that seemed to be the cherry on top of a great day for Harper.