PHILADELPHIA — Bryce Harper needs elbow surgery.
After months of speculation, Harper will undergo a procedure on the damaged ulnar collateral ligament that prevented him from throwing since the middle of April, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski announced Wednesday.
The extent of the surgery — a full-scale ligament reconstruction, known colloquially as “Tommy John surgery,” or a repair of the existing ligament — won’t be ascertained until Harper is on the operating table. Further, the Phillies won’t know when to expect their superstar slugger to return until after Dr. Neal ElAttrache performs the surgery next Wednesday in Los Angeles.
But three things seem clear:
1. Harper will play next season.
2. It’s doubtful he will be ready by opening day.
3. The Phillies will have to figure out how to replace him for at least a few months, as they did this season when he missed extended time with a broken left thumb.
“I would think it will slow him down for the season,” Dombrowski said. “But we’ll know more next week.”
A cursory look at position players who had elbow surgery reveals the varying timetables for Harper. Rhys Hoskins had a ligament repair in October 2020 and was back in time for spring training in February 2021. But Shohei Ohtani had Tommy John surgery in October 2018 and didn’t return as a hitter until May 2019.
It seems likely, then, that Harper, 30, won’t be available to the Phillies, even as a designated hitter, until sometime between early April and the end of June.
Regardless, Dombrowski said Harper’s absence won’t drastically change the Phillies’ offseason priorities, which remain focused on the star-studded shortstop market, recasting the bullpen around José Alvarado and Seranthony Domínguez, and adding at least one starter to the middle of the rotation.
“In the back of our mind, there will be discussions of, what do we do if [Harper misses several months], which may be nothing,” Dombrowski said. “Because right now, we’re looking at him coming back and DHing at some portion of [the season]. We have other players that can DH.”
The Phillies overcame Harper’s two-month absence this year by getting contributions from unexpected sources. Darick Hall, for instance, hit nine homers and slugged .522 after getting called up from Triple-A to play against mostly right-handed pitching. They could also shuffle the lineup by moving, say, Hoskins to DH, Alec Bohm to first base, and playing Edmundo Sosa at third.
“You don’t ever want to lose Bryce, you really don’t,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He’s one of the best hitters in baseball, if not the best. But we spent a lot of time last year without him, and guys responded and it gave opportunities to other people to step up and they did. So, while we will be missing him and looking forward to getting him back, it’ll give somebody else an opportunity.”
Whatever the Phillies decide, they likely will need Nick Castellanos to handle the bulk of the playing time in right field for the first few months of the season. Castellanos, who isn’t regarded as a good defensive outfielder, was the primary right fielder after Harper got injured in April.
Harper winced and flexed his arm after making a throw to the plate on April 11 at Citizens Bank Park. He was the DH the following game, then played four consecutive games in right field.
But as the Phillies opened a three-game series in Colorado on April 18, they announced that Harper would be shut down from throwing for one week because of what then-manager Joe Girardi initially termed “a little tendinitis.” A few days later, Harper underwent an MRI exam that revealed a strain in the flexor mass, a group of muscles and tendons near the junction of the forearm and elbow.
When the “achy” feeling, as Harper described it, didn’t abate, the Phillies ordered additional tests that showed a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of the elbow. Harper received a platelet-rich plasma injection May 17 and continued to DH until June 25, when he got hit by a pitch that broke his left thumb.
Harper wasn’t permitted to test his elbow until after he got the pins removed from his thumb. By then, the Phillies’ priority was to get Harper back in the lineup in any capacity. But when he did finally attempt some light throwing in early August, he still felt discomfort and agreed to table any further discussion of playing right field until after the season.
The issue didn’t come up until several weeks later than expected for the best possible reason: a Harper-powered run to the World Series.
But now, Harper must deal with his elbow injury at last, and it will almost certainly eat into his 2023 season.
