American Major League Baseball (MLB) superstar Bryce Harper (31, Philadelphia Phillies) hoped to participate in the 2028 Los Angeles (LA) Olympics.
ESPN, an American sports channel, reported on the 17th (Korean time), saying, “With the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announcing the return of baseball and softball to the 2028 LA Olympics, Harper said he hopes MLB players will be allowed to participate.” .
At the 141st General Assembly held in Mumbai, India on the 16th, the IOC approved the selection of five sports: baseball, softball, squash, flag football, cricket, and lacrosse as official sports for the 2028 LA Olympics. Baseball disappeared from the Olympic stage after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but was revived after 12 years at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It was excluded from the official event at the 2024 Paris Olympics held in Europe, but will be re-introduced as an official event at the LA Olympics.
The World Baseball Classic (WBC), hosted by the MLB Secretariat, features all active big leaguers, but the Olympics and Asian Games are different. Minor league players make up the main team. ESPN reported, ‘Professional players were allowed to play for the first time in 2000, but as MLB refused to draft players, American rosters were filled with minor league players.’ Harper strongly hoped to participate in the LA Olympics, saying, “I don’t know if the team will want me because I’m older by then (born in 1992), but it’s always been a dream. I especially think participating in the Olympics is everyone’s dream.”
Harper joined the Washington Nationals as the first overall pick in the first round of the 2010 rookie draft. His MLB career (12 years) performance is a batting average of 0.281, 306 home runs, and 889 RBI. His career OPS, which includes on-base percentage (0.391) and slugging percentage 스포츠토토(0.521), amounts to 0.912. He was selected as the National League Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 2015 and 2021, and boasts a distinguished personal career, including being an All-Star seven times and a Silver Slugger twice. He transferred to Philadelphia ahead of the 2019 season and is serving as the team’s star. His performance this season is a batting average of 0.293, 21 home runs, and 72 RBI. He was one of the key players who led Philadelphia’s advance to the Championship Series (CS) by hitting hard in the Division Series (DS).