One at-bat all Harper needs to get going
It took one at-bat Friday for Bryce Harper to tell a smattering of Phillies fans at the again-renamed BayCare Ballpark in Clearwater that he’s raring to head north.
In his first at-bat of the spring, Harper blasted an opposite field home run, part of what became a 3-0 Grapefruit League win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Afterward it wasn’t a surprise to hear Harper exercise his enthusiasm for another season.
“You always get back to spring training and you kind of have those jitters,” Harper said. “It kind of was amplified today because we finally have fans back. It was nice to see, and just to get out there, see some sunlight, get going a little bit, see some pitches ... it was a good day.” The homer helped, of course. “Yeah, feels great,” Harper said. “Everybody loves a homer, just like Charlie Manuel says.”
Forgive Harper if he’s a bit of a homer himself when asked about what he sees happening in the National League this coming season. With Joe Girardi free to operate with what appears to be a real pitching staff this time around, Harper seems to think the potential for the Phillies is limitless.
Then again, his patience with some things isn’t so flexible. That seems to be the take Harper has on veteran outfielder Odubel Herrera, who at 29 is trying to play his way back onto the team after a domestic violence charge stemming from an incident in Atlantic City in May 2019 with his girlfriend.
Herrera is off to a good start, and Thursday called all Phillies together on the field to publicly own up to his past transgression and apologize to the team.
As Rhys Hoskins said of Herrera recently, “Maybe some guys have something like this in their past and it cuts a little bit deeper. Some guys may also believe that everybody deserves a second chance...”
It seems to cut a little differently for Harper.
“I don’t agree with what he did; I don’t condone it,” Harper said Friday of Herrera. “It’s something that just can’t happen. You cannot do that kind of thing in this world or in this life. But I’m not the maker, I’m not the person that can make that decision of forgiving him or not forgiving him. I’m not God.”
In that same vein, Harper can’t predict the future. But he knows it will take a lot of work in what is expected to be a tough National League East. At least that mission should be a lot easier after an offseason of pitching acquisitions.
It was the first day that Girardi trotted out such new bullpen names as Archie Bradley and Jose Alvarado, along with new starter hopeful Chase Anderson. Harper was more interested in the two strikeouts in one inning of work that young Spencer Howard turned in.
Harper faced Howard in a live BP earlier this week and watched a first-pitch fastball blow by him. Howard is hitting 96 on the guns and is looking to increase that velocity as the spring goes on.
“I thought (he) was lights out,” Harper said of facing Howard. “He gave me a first-pitch fastball and I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, there it is.’ If he can prolong that over a couple of innings and he can understand what his best pitches are and how he does it, I think he’s going to be great for us. We need that.”
Girardi said Howard will compete for “the fourth or fifth” rotation spot, but added it’s possible he would wind up being used in relief this year if indeed the Phillies emerge from the spring with a fully healthy staff.
“I think you have to be open minded of how you use Spence this year,” Girardi said. “You have a good problem of everyone’s throwing the ball really well. I think he has the ability to do both roles.
“I’ve done it a few times in my career where starters that went to the bullpen have been dominant and then went back to the starting rotation the next year. Sometimes that’s how your team is the best.”
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Outfielder Adam Haseley was injured during Thursday’s game running the bases. He incurred a “moderate” groin injury that Girardi says will likely take four weeks to completely heal. He likely will miss Opening Day.
“He’s really disappointed. He worked really hard this winter and he was playing really well and moving extremely well,” Girardi said. “It’s disheartening for him and frustrating, but I told him, ‘we loved the way you’re playing. Let’s not rush this back; let’s make sure that you’re healthy, because if you do it again it’s going to be worse than the first time.’”
Haseley’s absence could be good news for Herrera’s hopes of hooking on as one of the Phillies’ centerfielders.