But at the same time, that’s how they feel that our game is going to get better… So you have to respect that at some point.” Is it possible he’s now underpaid? So (we were) the only sport without a pitch clock. “The thing about baseball is, like, every moment, it really says: Take a deep breath, relax, take a deep breath,” he said. And one thing he remembers is that that drama was timeless. He remembers the drama of the at-bat that led up to the blast. And when it appears on his screen, he doesn’t just see the baseball and the bedlam. “Once I get out there and once I get playing,” he said, “I’ve just got to figure out kind of what works for me.”īut in his memory banks, that NLCS home run is always playing. He’s very methodical in the way he goes about it. And he’s going to feel like, wow, this game is moving fast. “He’s going to have to come up with something, and he will. “We talked about that today,” said his hitting coach, Kevin Long. Then he shimmies into his place in the box. But we’re talking about a guy with a routine. He’ll have a little time in the minor leagues in a couple of months. The rest of the sport has a whole spring training to adapt to the pitch clock. It’s something to watch.Īccording to Statcast/Baseball Savant, only 10 hitters in the big leagues took more time between pitches than Bryce Harper did last year with no one on base. Hopefully.” What will become of the Bryce shimmy?īut when he does return, whatever day or month that is, the game he loves won’t be quite the same as the game he remembers. Me personally, knowing the superhuman that he is, I think he’s going to be back before then. “I know that the line’s going to be that he’s going to be our biggest trade acquisition right at the deadline. “We’re going to get a great player back whenever he’s healthy,” said Rhys Hoskins. “We’re going to be smart about it.”īut when he returns, sparks will fly, and his team is already stoked thinking about it. “We’re not going to rush,” he said Thursday. But you know who wasn’t buying that talk? Harper himself. The Phillies have said only that he’s expected back “before the All-Star break.” His teammates laughed at that timeline Thursday, expecting him to will himself back onto the field well before that. But if he follows the same rehab path as Shohei Ohtani, who had Tommy John Surgery after the 2018 season, Harper would be back, DH-ing in his first game in the big leagues, on June 29. It’s hard to forecast what comes after this game-free spring. “Just trying to take it day by day,” he said, “and be grateful for the day that I’m in.” The road back from Tommy John surgery is a day-to-day journey, and not one even someone like him can hurry. They were sitting on a tee, but it’s something. For the first time since a foul ball against Ryan Pressly in the final inning of the World Series, Harper took a swing at a real baseball Thursday - 16 of them, to be exact. “Maybe at the very end.”īut even on day one, there was slight progress. Taking batting practice? That’s possible, said his manager, Rob Thomson, on Thursday. Will you even see him on a field this spring? In a game? No chance. But after that? Could be quite a ride, through the new universe he is about to visit. Let’s look forward, at Bryce in 2023 and beyond. I like to kind of move forward and get going.” I mean, when you reflect on things, it’s great, right? But I like to keep things behind me a little bit. “I watched my bat against the Padres,” he admitted. He said Thursday that when he kicked back this winter, he watched one at-bat from that postseason. It was his Bedlam at the Bank NLCS moment, a magical swing of the bat that propelled his team into a World Series nobody saw coming. And then there was this - an epic baseball moment, a memory for a lifetime. He reminded us last October that he is a special member of the baseball species, rising to one gigantic moment after another and firing off the first six-homer, 13-extra-base-hit, 1.100 OPS postseason by any National League player in postseason history. “Good for baseball,” Harper said at one point, when the subject of those monster contracts came up.īut you know what else is good for baseball? That dude, Bryce Harper. … That game he plays is swirling in rule changes that will significantly impact Harper himself - whenever his right elbow is healthy enough for him to play again. … His sport is suddenly awash in dollars, and it has led to a flurry of free-agent deals that dwarf his. His team now overflows with big names and big dreams. Then think about how much the world has spun in so many different ways since the last time Bryce Harper was spotted at a ballpark, in Game 6 of the World Series. Take a ride with us now beyond the upper deck, to the view from 30,000 feet. It all looked so familiar, but only if you were viewing this scene from the front row.
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