First baseman Bryce Harper complained of wrist pain back in May of 2024. The injury seemed to subside gradually over the course of the year, but over a year later, the same issue has risen again. The Philadelphia Phillies placed their star on the 10-day injured list on June 7 and will hope the missed time is the missing ingredient to counter his nagging injury.
Harper is a true competitor and the face of the team, so to watch him go down with a chronic issue has given the team and fans pause to wonder what their next steps will be. They can win in the interim while he recovers, but if the same issue persists all season long, how lethal will he, or the lineup behind him, be?
Unclear timeline for Bryce Harper's return from wrist injury won't be what Phillies fans want to hear
"It's been long enough to where it's gotten to the point where I can't really function on a baseball field or hit a baseball or anything like that," Harper said in Pittsburgh, per MLB.com's Paul Casella. "So, it's just a good time for me to take some time and get it right."
The problem is that neither Harper nor the Phillies know how long it will take, according to Casella.
"Just got to get through the treatment phase and see what I can do," Harper said. "But we've got to get it to calm down and [I'll] get out there when I can."
Harper has since received treatment and has started to feel better, Charlotte Varnes of The Athletic reported on Tuesday. But that still doesn't answer the question of how long Harper will be out of action.
As much as the lineup has sputtered, losing Harper for any amount of time is a real concern. The Phillies did go 10-7 last year when Harper went on the IL with a hamstring strain, and a lot of that was without Kyle Schwarber as well. They managed to keep the team afloat until both stars returned. This season hasn't been as kind, as they have gone 3-7 with Harper out. He had already missed five games just a week prior after getting drilled in the elbow by a 95 mph fastball from Spencer Strider.
The Phillies still have a lineup that can produce at a high-level, but just haven't found a real groove yet after their initial 36-20 start. It's not all on the offense, even with them batting a combined .223 in the month of June before Wednesday's series finale with the Chicago Cubs. Before Jesús Luzardo's fantastic start on Wednesday, they had pitched to a 5.33 ERA in their last 10 games (6.15 ERA for starters, 4.27 ERA for relievers).
The Phillies are in a major slump right now which they hopefully got over after their magical 11-inning walk-off win over the Cubs on Monday, per Casella, following by yesterday's 7-2 win. Good teams are allowed to have bad slumps, and it could just end up being a footnote on a great season. They just can't allow the trailing off that happened last year.
The Phillies still have a strong chance to represent the National League with or without Bryce Harper healthy. It's not ideal by any stretch, but it's not impossible. All baseball fans saw what Freddie Freeman accomplished during the playoffs last year on a sprained ankle. The Braves also won a championship in 2021 after losing Ronald Acuña Jr. for the year with a torn ACL.
Harper can take his time to recover and hopefully put an end to his pain as the season rolls on. Also, Phillies fans must have forgotten that Harper played the second-half of a historic 2022 World Series chase with a torn UCL.