Nats thrilled Harper is back to provide postseason pop
2015 MVP returned to field last week from knee injury.
WASHINGTON — When Bryce Harper slipped on a rain-slicked first base and tumbled awkwardly to the ground in apparent agony back in August, many members of the Washington Nationals feared the worst.
“Watching that live ...” pitcher Gio Gonzalez said, shaking his head as his voice trailed off at the thought of it. “Seemed serious. Devastating.”
“We feared,” general manager Mike Rizzo recalled Wednesday during a workout at Nationals Park ahead of the NL Division Series, “that he might be lost for the season.”
And now that five-time All-Star Harper is back with the Nationals after recovering from what turned out to be a hyperextended left knee, and set to start in right field tonight in Game 1 of the NLDS?
“For us to see him moving around, swinging the bat, it just goes to show you the character of the guy — how he is, how he wants to be on the field,” Gonzalez said. “It sets the tone for our lineup. It gives everyone protection, from the top to the bottom. It’s a very difficult lineup when you have to deal with Bryce in there.”
Might be in the No. 2 spot, where manager Dusty Baker used the 2015 NL MVP after he returned in time to appear in five games in the final week of the regular season. Harper went 3 for 18 with zero extra-base hits — and one Bryce-at-his-most-aggressive, helmet-flying, hair-flowing dash home from first base.
Not a lot, but enough to put folks at ease around these parts.
“He feels good. He feels healthy,” Rizzo said. “It was good to see him run the bases aggressively and 100 percent. When the game is at its highest and the lights are at their brightest, he’ll be at his best.”
Harper agrees with that assessment. “I’m super-excited to play in those games,” he said, “and be in those situations and that environment.”
Of NL East champion Washington’s three previous playoff appearances over the past five seasons, Harper’s best showing came in 2014, when he went 5 for 17 with three homers and a double against the San Francisco Giants.
While Harper was missing 42 games while recovering from his knee injury this season, Washington’s offense took a significant step back: The team averaged 4.1 runs without him during that stretch — compared to 5.1 over the full season.