Harper undergoes successful Tommy John surgery, team says

The Phillies Bryce Harper underwent “successful” Tommy John surgery with Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles on Wednesday, according to a team press release. In the release, the team said that Harper is expected to return as the designated hitter by the 2023 All-Star break, and could return to right field toward the end of the regular season.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said last week that Harper would undergo surgery on his right elbow, but said the team was unsure of what the extent of the surgery would be. At the time, it was possible that Harper would require only a repair of his damaged ulnar collateral ligament, a procedure called an internal brace that his teammate, Rhys Hoskins, had in 2020.

But upon further examination on Wednesday, ElAttrache decided that Harper needed a full reconstruction of his UCL, termed a “right elbow UCL reconstruction/ repair with ulnar nerve transposition” by the Phillies.

While it was unclear exactly when Harper’s injury occurred, he had been dealing with an “achy” feeling in his elbow since April, after a throw to home plate on April 11 that caused him to wince in pain. Harper played four games in right field after that date, but was shut down from throwing for a week on April 18.

At the time, then-manager Joe Girardi said Harper was dealing with tendinitis, but an MRI revealed a strain in his flexor mass (a group of muscles and tendons in the forearm), the team said. Harper has not played a game in right field since April 16, but quickly transitioned to his role as DH, as hitting did not put stress on the injured elbow.

Position players typically require six to eight months of recovery time from Tommy John surgery.

Harper seems to be a quick healer. After he was hit by a pitch that broke his thumb on June 25, Harper found himself back in a big league lineup almost two months to the day later. It took him a while to find his timing at the plate, but once he did, he looked like he was fully back to his 2021 National League MVP self. Post thumb injury, Harper found his stride at the best possible time for the Phillies — during the 2022 postseason, when he hit .349/.414/.746 with a 1.160 OPS.

Harper was hitting .318/.386/ .599 over 64 games before he got hit by the pitch. That type of production won’t be easy for the Phillies to replicate for the first few months of the 2023 season, but they now have the benefit of knowing a rough time frame for Harper’s absence, which could inform some of their decisions this offseason.

Last week, Dombrowski emphasized that the Phillies have several candidates on their roster who could fill in for Harper if need be. In 2022, that player was largely Darick Hall, a rookie power hitter who was used as a DH against right-handed pitchers. Hall came out of the gate strong, hitting two home runs in his second big league game on June 30 and posting a .907 OPS over his first 12 games, and heated up again in August, when he hit .302/.333/.628 over 13 games, but he finished his first season in the big leagues with a glaringly high strikeout rate of 31%.