Bryce Harper baffled by lack of home runs after recent close calls

It's been 29 games since Bryce Harper hit his last home run. The Philadelphia Phillies All-Star first baseman is no stranger to his current predicament after going 166 at-bats in 2023 before the ball started leaving the yard again, so what gives?

It's not for lack of trying either. Harper has been very close to ending his homerless streak in each of his last three games. The slugger nearly ended the drought on Sunday in the series finale against the Miami Marlins when he hit a ball that just missed going over the wall.

Then there was Monday night's controversial single that should have been a double. Harper, thinking he had connected for a home run, stayed in the box and admired the ball before watching it lose gravity and careen off the right field wall. Social media sites such as X and Threads had a field day with numerous posts devoted to the misguided idea of benching Harper for not running hard out of the box.

Harper helped to extinguish that rhetoric on Tuesday with a 4-for-5 showing, connecting on three doubles and reaching base on a single. Once again, Harper got close to ending his homerless streak, hitting a ball to the right field wall that was caught by a fan reaching out over the playing field that was ultimately reviewed and determined to be fan interference. The result a ground rule double that kept the homerless streak intact for another day.

Bryce Harper baffled by lack of home runs after recent close calls

It's easy to point to Harper's recent elbow issues as a root cause resulting in his lack of home run production over the last month. Harper has admitted that his right elbow has been bothering him during at-bats of late, but the former MVP has stopped short of blaming his nagging elbow discomfort on his lack of in-game power.

Speaking to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com about the pain he experiences while swinging a bat, Harper was quick to dispel the injury as anything more significant than being a problem he will have to play through for the rest of the season.

"The elbow. The wrist. It's not anything crazy, but obviously it's there," said Harper, per Zolecki. "I don't want to make excuses for what I do. 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."

No one will ever accuse Bryce Harper of being soft. This is the same guy who came back from Tommy John surgery earlier than expected in 2023, and played with a damaged thumb during parts of the 2022. Anthony Rendon, he is not. But does Harper think that his elbow is to blame for his 29-game homerless streak? Not exactly.

Speaking to the media following Wednesday's 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, Harper seemed more surprised than worried about his current stretch of bad luck with connecting to the long ball, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia's Corey Seidman.

“I don't think I missed anything," said Harper, per Seidman. "I don't understand how the ball's not going. You hit it at 108 (mph) at 20 or 22 (degrees) and it's not going outta the yard. I've never seen that at The Bank."

It's just a matter of time before Harper's homerless streak comes to an end. Currently sitting on 26 home runs on the season, Harper still has a chance to slug 30-plus home runs this season, a feat he has previously accomplished twice before in his Phillies career. Harper will have his next chance to end the drought when the second-place New York Mets come to town for a much anticipated three-game series that carries divisional implications this weekend.