Why Dodgers coach Dino Ebel is Bryce Harper’s Home Run Derby pitcher

PHILADELPHIA –– Dino Ebel knew Bryce Harper was looking for a Home Run Derby pitcher last week.

He just didn’t expect that he’d be the one the Phillies superstar would decide to reach out to.

“I saw a tweet out there where they asked him and [he said], ‘If I can get the right guy, I’ll think about getting in it,’” Ebel, the Dodgers’ third base coach, recounted in an interview with The California Post.

“And then I think it was the next day where he texted me and just said, ‘Hey, if I decide to do this, are you willing to do it?’”

Willing, able and –– after getting the green light from the Dodgers –– happy to oblige.

Thus, when Harper steps up to the plate in front of a raucous hometown crowd for Monday night’s Derby at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Ebel will be the one standing directly in front of him, attempting to groove pitches over the plate for the two-time MVP to smash. 

“It’s an honor for somebody to ask you, especially when you don’t throw to him every day on a daily basis,” Ebel said. And, you know, it’s in Philly. I think it’s gonna be exciting. And I’ve always said, if somebody ever wanted me to throw and I can throw, I would always do it. So I’m looking forward to it. … If I’m in it, I’m trying to win it.”

This is a side hustle that Ebel has mastered over his years as a big-league coach. Four times before, he has pitched to other players in previous derbies –– including winning performances with Vladimir Guerrero Sr. in 2007 and Teoscar Hernández in 2024.

Ebel also stepped in during last year’s derby-style “swing-off” at the end of the All-Star Game, helping the National League prevail in an historic tie-breaker format that ended with three home runs from Harper’s Phillies teammate, Kyle Schwarber.

“He’s pretty dang good at it,” Harper told reporters of Ebel’s batting-practice pitching. “So, it’ll be fun.”

Harper has participated in, and won, a Home Run Derby before, taking the crown in 2018 at what was then his home stadium of Nationals Park in Washington. That year, his dad pitched to him as he edged out his future teammate, Schwarber, in an epic 19–18 final. According to MLB.com, however, Harper’s dad hasn’t thrown in a few years at this point, leaving his son in search of somebody to throw.

Enter Ebel, who worked with both Harper and Schwarber as a coach on Team USA’s World Baseball Classic squad this spring.

“I got to throw to him every day, Group 1, him and Schwarber and the rest of the guys,” Ebel said. “That’s where it all kind of came about.”

Ebel and Harper’s connections go back even further than that, too, to when Ebel’s family kept an offseason home in Las Vegas, overlapping with Harper’s ascent in the city as a phenom teenage prospect.

Ebel remembers watching some of Harper’s high school games from way back then. He also threw BP at the same training center, “Batter Up,” that Harper would frequent in the years leading up to his No. 1 overall draft selection.

“I went in there to throw to guys like Tommy Pham, Shane Victorino and some others,” Ebel recalled. “So I kinda saw him in there.”

Ebel and Harper later reconnected during the 2015 Home Run Derby, when Ebel served as Albert Pujols’ pitcher and Harper was enjoying the third of his nine career All-Star trips.

That night, Ebel noted, Harper posed for a picture with his two young sons. He then laughed about how fast time passes, with both boys having become first-round draft picks themselves in the last two years.

Harper, meanwhile, remains an offensive force a decade later; albeit with somewhat diminished production compared to his peak MVP-winning years.

This season, the 33-year-old enters the Derby with 20 home runs and a .501 slugging percentage. Last month, he launched a season-best 457-foot blast off the batter’s eye in Pittsburgh, tied for the 15th-longest drive by any MLB hitter this year.

“He’s got a lot of power going to the opposite field. And especially in Philly, he knows that park better than anybody,” Ebel said. “So we’ll get together when I see him on Monday. I’ll throw BP before the Derby starts, and then we’ll go in the cage and I’ll just try to line it up to where he feels it’s his sweet spot.”

Before following through on Harper’s request, Ebel got the go-ahead from Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, ensuring no players from their team were planning to participate in the event.

Once that was confirmed, however, he responded to Harper saying it’d be an honor to pitch to him.

The slugger’s response: “Let’s win it. Let’s get it.”

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