PHILADELPHIA — Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson said Thursday that Bryce Harper will be activated Friday after missing two months with a broken left thumb.
Harper told his manager on Wednesday night that he “felt great” and believes his timing is down, but that his body felt sore, so he will hit in the cage and get some treatment Thursday at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies open a three-game series against the Pirates on Friday at Citizens Bank Park.
Harper was 5 for 8 with two home runs and six RBIs in two games during his rehab stint with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Thomson called his speedy recovery, two months to the day after being hit by a fastball on the hand on June 25, “amazing.”
“The first year he signed with us, in spring training, I think it might have been the first pitch, he got hit in the ankle,” Thomson said. “So I ran in afterwards, and he was on the table all wrapped up, and I said, ‘How are you doing?’ And he goes, ‘I’m doing great.’ I asked him, ‘How will you be tomorrow?’ He says, ‘I don’t swell; I don’t bruise.’ And I’m like, ‘All right, whatever.’ The next day I come in, he takes the wrapping off: no swelling, no bruising. It’s unbelievable. He’s a quick healer. Some guys are like that.”
Harper’s presence certainly will have an immediate impact. Adding the reigning National League MVP, who hit .318/.385/.599 before his injury, will be a boost. According to Sports Info Solutions, Phillies hitters are batting .245 with a .705 OPS against right-handers without Harper and .254 and .742 with him in the lineup.
But his presence also could make an impact in the outfield, as Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos — who don’t grade well defensively — won’t be able to DH.
Harper also will bring some balance to the lineup.
Thomson hasn’t said where he’ll hit Harper in the lineup, but it’s likely to be in the top four or five spots. All but 10 of Harper’s 242 at-bats have come from the third spot in the lineup. Right now, the top of the Phillies’ lineup is righty-heavy. With the exception of leadoff hitter Schwarber, who bats left, the next four spots are right-handed hitters: Rhys Hoskins, Alec Bohm, J.T. Realmuto and Castellanos.
Those are the Phillies’ best hitters right now, so you’d want them to get more at-bats. But the right-handed heaviness at the top does it make it easier for opposing teams to match up against the Phillies, especially late in games. A good right-handed reliever could pair well against that entire pocket, from Hoskins down.
That’s why Thomson penciled in rookie lefty-hitting slugger Darick Hall in the four-spot, before he was optioned back to Triple-A. Hall’s presence gave opposing teams more to think about, and he doesn’t even have 200 big league at-bats. They’ll have even more to think about with the return of Harper, who has hit .329/.380/.640 against right-handed pitchers this season.
“There’s a long line [of right-handed hitters] there,” Thomson said. “It’s huge to break those guys up a little bit. And then you can break it up again when you get to [Bryson] Stott, so, it’ll be long.
“They know where he’s at all the time. Same thing with Schwarber. They know where that guy is at all of the time. So the guys in front of him tend to get some more strikes, tend to get better pitches. Not all of the time, but most of the time.”
Who gets bumped down in the lineup with Harper back? Schwarber is staying at leadoff, and the four hitters below him are hitting their offensive strides at roughly the same time. Realmuto is batting .429 over his last seven games. Bohm is batting .345 over that span. Hoskins has batted either leadoff or second for most of this season and is coming off a two-hit game on Wednesday. Castellanos has been hitting the ball hard and is slugging .500 over his last 15 games.
It’s not an easy puzzle to solve, and Thomson conceded as much on Tuesday, when asked if Harper would automatically go back to hitting third.
“I don’t know. I’m going back and forth on it,” Thomson said. “There’s a lot of conversations to have, where he’s going to hit, where everybody else is going to hit.”
Either way, in a righty-heavy lineup, Harper will provide balance wherever he goes. And, of course, he’ll provide some much-needed pop.
“I feel like we can beat any team in the game,” Jean Segura said Tuesday of Harper’s impending return. “We’re fired up for when he comes back. Our job is get into the playoffs. As soon as we get into the playoffs, I like our chances, with [Zack] Wheeler and [Aaron] Nola, against any team in the major leagues. I’m just excited. I can’t wait to get to that spot.”
