Philly’s Scott Bandura was teammates for a day with Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber. It was ‘surreal.’

Scott Bandura and the other San Francisco Giants minor leaguers dropped their bags Tuesday morning in the dugout of Team USA and headed for the clubhouse. They were called to be extra players, dreamers who would be part of the Dream Team for the day.

The clubhouse doors opened, and there they were — Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Aaron Judge, and a cast of former MVPs and future Hall of Famers — preparing for an exhibition game in a cramped spring training clubhouse.

It was a final tuneup for the stars before the World Baseball Classic. Bandura, who grew up in Mt. Airy and fell in love with the game at a rec center in South Philly, was in the same room.

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“We walked straight into every guy in there getting ready to go, and we were like a deer in headlights,” Bandura said. “It was surreal. The older guys on that team were the guys I grew up watching and were winning MVPs when I was in middle school and high school. Those are the guys who inspired me to play, and then the two Phillies are two of the top five most beloved athletes in Philly. It was unreal.”

Bandura was the catcher for Mo’ne Davis with the Taney Dragons, a team of 12-year-olds who captured Philly’s imagination at the 2014 Little League World Series while playing in front of 40,000 people. He played youth baseball across the country with his dad’s Anderson Monarchs, had a terrific college career at Princeton, and was drafted in 2023 by San Francisco.

Yet Bandura told his dad on Tuesday night that his hourslong stint on Team USA was the best day of his career. The back of his jersey was blank, no name or number. But Bandura was a teammate of the stars.

“Draft day in 2023 was No. 1 to start because that’s the day that dreams started to come true,” Bandura said. “But this was the next step up from that. Now, all of a sudden, I’m sharing the dugout with Hall of Famers and guys I grew up watching and feeling somewhat like I’m meant to be there. They were telling us to go show everyone something. This had to be No. 1.”

Bandura and the other minor leaguers heard how Team USA plucked a few Giants prospects in 2023 when they played an exhibition before the World Baseball Classic. They hoped it would be their turn this year. Bandura received a text on Monday from the Giants front office: He was playing Tuesday for Team USA.

The minor leaguers were to be late-inning substitutes as most of the Team USA players were not going to play nine innings against the Giants.

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Team USA manager Mark DeRosa welcomed the Giants minor leaguers, and Judge — “He’s way bigger than he looks on TV,” Bandura said — told them to be themselves in the dugout. They were part of the team, the reigning two-time American League MVP said.

Bandura, a 24-year-old outfielder who finished last season in double A, has spent some time the last two springs with the Giants big-leaguers. But this was different. He entered in the sixth inning, played in the outfield next to Pete Crow-Armstrong, and hit a single in the 10th. The game was on ESPN, and his phone buzzed all night.

“Some people thought I was actually on the team,” Bandura said. “I had to explain to them that I’m not quite there yet.”

Bandura’s parents, Steve and Robin, were watching on TV when their son came to bat for Team USA.

“There was a camera shot from behind the dugout just panning across all the guys who were up on the railing,” Steve Bandura said. “It panned across all those jerseys and names. [Cal] Raleigh, Harper, Schwarber, Judge, [Bobby] Witt Jr. All those guys. Then, bang. Right to him. It was like, ‘Wow.’ Oh my goodness. It was a big-time proud parent moment.”

Bandura grew up a diehard Phillies fan and was in high school at Springside Chestnut Hill when Harper signed with the team. The 2022 World Series, which came in Schwarber’s first season with the team, was a year before Bandura was drafted by the Giants, so he still was a Phillies fan. For a few hours, he called those guys his teammates.

“The first thing I thought about was how any of my friends from back home would think if they were in that situation,” Scott Bandura said. “I didn’t even know what to do. I wasn’t going to bother them, but these guys were huge inspirations. It was just weird. I’ve seen those guys so many times on TV. I’ve rooted for them so many times. And then to be in the dugout as somewhat equals, it was just weird.”

Bandura will start his season next month at a minor league outpost still a few steps from reaching the major leagues. He showed enough promise last season (Bandura hit .307 in 81 games in high A) that getting there feels tangible. He reported to spring training last month 26 pounds heavier than he was last season. This was the first fall, his father said, since he was 3 years old that Bandura did not go to school as he finished his college degree during the last two offseasons. Finally, it was just baseball.

“I’m just so proud of him because I see how hard he works,” Steve Bandura said. “I’ve seen how hard he’s worked to get here. I saw how every morning he was up and worked on his diet, measuring everything, and following his plan.”

For now, the No. 1 moment of Bandura’s career was being close to the guys he admired. In a few years, Bandura could have a new moment at the top of his list. Perhaps his few hours on Team USA could propel him there.

“The goal is to have a really good big league career,” Bandura said. “And I got a taste of that with the Team USA environment. The only way to get there is to have an All-Star-caliber career. As cool as that was the other day, it definitely served as motivation to get where I want to go.”