Growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada, Harper played a number of sports, including basketball and American football as well as baseball.
[5] On the Coyotes baseball team, they were managed by Tim Chambers, who later praised Bryan Harper's work ethic and professionalism in spite of being overshadowed by his younger brother.
[5] After Bryce was ejected and suspended later in the tournament, Bryan Harper got to pitch in an elimination game versus Iowa Western Community College.
He was then drafted in the 27th round of the 2010 MLB draft—in which his younger brother Bryce was selected first overall by the Nationals—by the Chicago Cubs out of the College of Southern Nevada but again did not sign.
After spending the first two months of the 2016 season back with the Senators and recording a 1.50 ERA over 24 innings pitched, including 16 out of 20 scoreless appearances, Harper was promoted again to the Chiefs in June.
[16] Harper re-signed with the Nationals after the 2017 season and was invited to major league spring training in 2018 for the first time, vying for a spot in the Washington bullpen.
[17] Harper spent the 2018 regular season with Harrisburg, making 44 relief appearances and compiling a 3.69 ERA with 38 strikeouts and 4 saves across 46+1⁄3 innings pitched.
[1] While his fastball velocity sat in the mid-80s when he was pitching for the University of South Carolina in 2011,[9] he was throwing in the low 90s with the Syracuse Chiefs in 2016 prior to undergoing Tommy John surgery.