Bryce Harper's power dip has the Phillies' slugger off his average homer pace
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - JUNE 20: Bryce Harper #3 of the Philadelphia Phillies bats against the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park on June 20, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA - Bryce Harper had good reason his home run drought extended one more day.
Rain wiped out the Phillies game against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night.
So, Harper will wait until at least Thursday, when the Phillies try again against the Braves, to try and go deep for the first time in 21 games (May 25) and 97 plate appearances. That was back when the Phillies played nothing like a team about to go on a 13-3 run that again brought a run toward a playoff spot into view for the National League champions. Back when having Harper in the lineup still seemed like a medical marvel.
Oh, Harper has contributed plenty to the Phillies’ torrid pace. That’s what two-time NL MVPs do.
Harper is still hitting .301. He’s slashing .309/.402/.434 with 27 runs and 13 extra-base hits in his last 40 games. And his modest four-game hitting streak comes on a robust 7-for-18 effort.
But, about that home run drought.
"Harp hasn’t gotten on a streak yet," manager Rob Thomson mused Wednesday, the tarp on the field. "You know he’s going to. History tells you that."
He led the league with 42 homers with Washington in 2015, and hit at least 30 three other times. Harper’s two-run blast in the eighth inning of a Game 5 win in last season’s NLCS that sent the Phillies into the World Series is on the short list of great moments in Philly sports history.
This season, Harper has just three homers over 183 plate appearances.
"I can’t try to do it because if I try to do it, then I’m going to punch out and not get on base," Harper said. "I gotta take my walks, and I gotta keep getting on base and having good days. I’ve never really struggled with power in my career, I could say. It’s not me talking great about myself, but I just feel like the power will come, those numbers will come."
Harper has brushed aside questions that his power outage is linked in any way to his early return from offseason Tommy John surgery. Harper, in the fifth season of a $330 million, 13-year contract, returned to the lineup in May, just 160 days after surgery on his right elbow. The 30-year-old Harper has served exclusively this season as the designated hitter. He last played right field on April 16, 2022, and has taken grounders at first base in anticipation of a possible move there after the All-Star break.
The Phillies already miss first baseman Rhys Hoskins’ pop in the lineup. Hoskins, who hit 30 homers last season, is out for 2023 with a torn ACL in his left knee. Kyle Schwarber (batting just .191) has 24 homers and is making a run at defending his NL home run crown. But the rest of the lineup the Phillies were set to use against Atlanta right-hander AJ Smith-Shawver was light on the long ball. No other Phillies player has hit more than eight.
The Phillies have 78 homers this season, ranked 20th in baseball, entering Wednesday.
The Phillies only have warning-track power in the standings. They’re nine games behind the Braves in the NL East and two games back of a wild-card spot.
Maybe a few more late-inning Harper homers can rally them in the second half toward another Red October. History shows he can start mashing in bunches. Harper has never hit less than 13 homers in a season, and one of those years was in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign.
Thomson says Harper’s power dip isn’t related to injury. He knows because he watches Harper crush balls into the seats with ease in batting practice.
"When we do take BP, you’ll see the raw power. It’s there," Thomson said. "The ball’s coming off the bat at the same exit velocity it normally does. It’s just a matter of getting it up in the air."