The Philadelphia Phillies have cooled off significantly after a dream first half, and a significant factor is Bryce Harper‘s power outage.
Since returning from a hamstring injury after the All-Star break, the two-time MVP has hit .233/.313/.411 with six homers in 42 games. He entered Friday without a home run since Aug. 9 and a barrel rate down from 15.1% in June to 2.7% in August, via Baseball Savant.
That’s concerning if you’re a team betting on Harper being an MVP-level hitter in the playoffs. There is also apparently a reason for it, as Harper revealed to MLB.com on Friday.
After sporting a protective black sleeve on his arm this week, Harper admitted he has been dealing with wrist and elbow issues:
He said his wrist has bothered him since May. The elbow is more recent. Harper said he doesn’t recall a specific play or moment that irritated the wrist, only that it “just generally got worse. I’ve been grinding through that.” But with the postseason a little more than a month away, he said he is hopeful it will not be an issue in October.
“I don’t want to make excuses for what I do,” Harper said. “You know what I’m saying? I’ve just got to get through it. Hopefully it gets better, rather than getting worse. [The wrist’s] finally getting to the point where I feel like it’s turning a corner. My elbow is just like — there.”
Harper specifically said the issue isn’t his right elbow ligament, which underwent Tommy John surgery following the 2022 World Series.
With a month to go in the regular season, the Phillies can only hope Harper’s arm is improving like he says it is. The team entered Friday with a six-game lead over the Atlanta Braves for first place in the NL East and one game back from the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in the NL. There is still plenty to figure out in September.