Bryce Harper’s custom bat reveals sex of next child during plate appearance vs. Giants

Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper put a sporty spin on the surprise of finding out the sex of his fourth child with a custom bat and an assist from teammate Trea Turner.

Prior to the Phillies’ game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday, Harper had equipment manufacturer Victus Sports deliver one pink and one blue bat to Citizens Bank Park. Harper then asked Turner to have the honor of breaking the news by handing him the pink bat for a baby girl or the blue bat for a boy before his first plate appearance.

“I got a text message with the gender,” Turner said. “I messed with him a little bit in the dugout. I picked up the pink one and swung it around a little bit. He thought he was having a girl, so I had to mess with him a little bit.”

But the shortstop swapped the colors when it was time to hit, revealing that Harper’s wife Kayla would be having a boy. The couple, who have been married since 2016, already have one son and two daughters.

They’re having a boy!  👶

Bryce Harper gets the gender reveal for his fourth child thanks to a custom blue bat handed to him by Trea Turner 🥹 pic.twitter.com/m4xP2wGv3U

— MLB (@MLB) April 14, 2025

“He was just excited. I think he would have been excited either way, but now, he’s got two of each. Kind of a complete family already, but anytime you can add another person to the family, I think it’s special. I think he was super excited,” Turner said.

Turner, 31, and Harper, 32, have a friendship that dates back to their days playing for the Washington Nationals together from 2015 to 2018. Harper left for Philadelphia in March of 2019 and later lobbied the Phillies’ highest-ranking officials to sign Turner in the summer of 2022.

“Every time I’d see him at shortstop, I’d mess with him: ‘You’d look great in a Phillies uniform,’” Harper told reporters about his banter with Turner before he joined the Phillies.

While Harper’s blue bat marked MLB’s first in-game gender reveal, he isn’t the only athlete to use his platform to announce big baby news. NFL wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie found a broadcaster’s camera and screamed, “It’s a boy!” into the lens to tell his sister the sex of her baby after scoring a touchdown for the Buffalo Bills during a 2022 game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Football and family. 🥺

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(Photo: Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)