Baker: Harper back in swing
Nationals star ‘not missing pitches’ as he did during 2016.
WEST PALM BEACH — Nationals manager Dusty Baker discerns a difference in Bryce Har p e r a t t h e p l a t e t h i s spring compared with the guy who struggled mightily for much of last season.
It’s not his home run binge — that’s simply a byproduct of Harper’s success, and a pleasant one at that.
“He’s not missing pitches,” Baker said. “The last couple days, he’s not missing pitches and he’s not fouling balls off. When you’re not doing well, a lot of times you’re fouling balls off that you should be putting in play, whether it’s a line-drive home run or a pop-up or something.”
Harper had homered in t hree s t r a i g ht g a mes for Washington before going 0 for 1 against Detroit on Monday at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches. Five of his eight spring hits have been homers, and a sixth has been a double.
Harper also drew a fourpitch walk from Tigers ace Justin Verlander in a 3-3, 10-inning tie. The four-time All-Star outfielder is hitting .313 in exhibition play and began the day tied with San Diego’s Jabari Blash for the spring training lead in home runs.
“He looks good. He looks real good,” Baker said.
Harper hit only two homers last spring after winning the 2015 NL MVP award. Once he left Florida, though, Harper turned it on, swatting nine homers by the end of April while hitting .286.
“Without Bryce last year, there’s no way we’d have gotten off to the start that we had,” Baker said.
That s urge di dn’t l a s t . Harper never hit more than four homers in any given month the remainder of the way and mashed only five after the All-Star break. His .226 average in the second half dropped Harper’s season average to .243, easily the lowest of his five-year major league career. He finished with 24 homers and 86 RBIs for the NL East champions.
T h e p r e v i o u s s e a s o n , Harper hit .330 with 42 home runs and 99 RBIs.
Harper’s futilit y fueled speculation that he was playing through an injury, but he maintained publicly that nothing physically was wrong with him.
“To me, he was (swinging) underneath and missing a lot of balls, fouling them off,” Baker said.
Teammates are hoping that Harper’s spring foreshadows a resurgence at the plate.
“As far as health-wise, the way his body looks — and I think that’s the most important thing — he looks great,” first baseman Ryan Zimmer- man said.
A strong spring often indicates the return of muchneeded confidence for a player coming off a down year.
That might not be the case for Harper.
“Confidence ain’t his problem,” Baker said. “Confidence might be some other guys’ problems, but I think he was probably born confident.”