What happened when Bryce Harper played cupid for two high schoolers

Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper reacts after a game, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Philadelphia.
Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper reacts after a game, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Philadelphia. | Matt Slocum, Associated Press
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Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper is so good that he is racking up wins off the field, too.

Harper recently helped New Jersey high school senior Jake Portella ask classmate Giulia Leonetti to Haddonfield Memorial High’s prom next month, and the video has gone viral.

In the video, Harper and Portella are standing on Leonetti’s front porch when she opens the door.

“Jake wants to ask you to prom, so I thought I’d help out,” Harper said in the video. “So will you go to prom with him?”

Leonetti, a lifelong Phillies fan, was in disbelief. After Harper popped the question, Leonetti said yes and hugged the first baseman — and then hugged Portella.

“I just said like, ‘Can I have a hug?’ I couldn’t let him go. I had to make sure he was real,” she told Philadelphia’s ABC 6. “But as soon I snapped back, I was like, ‘I need to hug Jake.’”

Portella told MLB.com that he found out Harper lived in the area, so he knocked on his door Monday and asked for his help. The original plan was for Harper to send a recorded video for Portella to share with Leonetti, but Harper decided that wasn’t good enough.

“Then, as I was leaving, he calls me back and he’s like, ‘What if we just did it right now?’” Portella said. “And I was like, ‘Forget the poster. I don’t think the poster matters if I get Bryce Harper to do it with me.’”

The pair immediately headed over to Leonetti’s house. Portella admitted to ABC 6 that he was worried that Leonetti wouldn’t be home, but Harper’s offer was too good to pass up. The risk paid off.

“I don’t think people understand the gravity of Bryce Harper standing in front of me and what that means to me specifically,” Leonetti said to ABC 6. “Immediate tears as soon as I saw Bryce. I just love him so much.”

Harper was asked about the promposal after the Phillies beat the Rangers Tuesday.

“Just helping a brother out, man,” he said, per MLB.com.

Harper likely didn’t get to participate in his own promposal. In 2009, he dropped out of high school after his sophomore year and elected to take his GED test and enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada. The decision made him eligible for the 2010 MLB draft, where he was the first overall pick.

“High school was a great experience for two years, I loved it,” he told ESPN at the time. “I just want to get out of there where I’m getting walked 40, 50 times a year.”