This story was excerpted from Jessica Camerato’s Nationals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
The resemblance was undoubted. Side-by-side photos of an adult Hunter Harvey and his father, Bryan -- both donning a Major League uniform with a glove on their left hand and a baseball in their right -- on the Nationals social media recently prompted a double take.
“A lot of people say that we look a lot alike,” Hunter Harvey said. “Obviously, when they posted that, just seeing that, it’s kind of surreal. It’s cool. It’s a cool feeling.”
Harvey, 28, has been linked to his father’s acclaimed nine-year Major League career while he forges his own path in the bigs. The Nats’ late-inning reliever, who has 10 saves this season, is following in the family footsteps.
Bryan was the 1991 AL Rolaids Relief Award winner and a two-time All-Star while playing for the Angels and Marlins. Not only was he a member of the inaugural Marlins in ‘93, he also earned their first save in their first win. That season, Bryan accumulated 45 saves and garnered his second All-Star selection, along with Cy Young Award votes and MVP votes.
When Harvey earned his first career save in Miami last Friday, the accomplishment was special to him on several levels.
“They had the 30th anniversary baseball, so I kept it,” Harvey said.
The Marlins’ throwback uniforms also provided a visual reminder of the final three seasons of his father’s playing career.
“When they wore those jerseys the night I got the save, obviously that was the jersey he was wearing when he got his first save as a Marlin,” Harvey said. “That was kind of cool. It kind of brought it back a little bit because I have a bunch of his old jerseys.”