Phillies think Bryce Harper is OK after another scary hit-by-pitch originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
DUNEDIN, Fla. — The last sight any Phillies fan would want to see occurred in the top of the sixth inning of Wednesday’s spring training game against the Blue Jays.
Bryce Harper was struck on his right (throwing) arm by a 92 mph fastball from left-hander Richard Lovelady. The pitch caught him on the right triceps just below the shoulder. Harper was removed from the game for a pinch-runner, though it was his final inning anyway in his first Grapefruit League game of the year.
Harper appeared quite unhappy and left the ballpark quickly under his own power.
Manager Rob Thomson said the team thinks Harper is fine and not expected to require further imaging.
“We’ll check him tomorrow but it’s a contusion in the triceps area,” he said. “We’re not really over-concerned at all.”
Harper will not play Thursday but he was scheduled to have the game off anyway. The Phillies aren’t yet at the point in camp where they’re playing their regulars back-to-back days and Thomson wants to start the infielders together, meaning all of Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Trea Turner, Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott will not play Thursday after starting Wednesday.
“It’s early spring training so guys don’t have their command down,” Thomson said. “There were a bunch of guys hit today. I can’t speak for the kid but maybe he was a little nervous, it’s Bryce Harper. It’s baseball.”
Part of being a great hitter is having to deal with being pitched up-and-in, and part of being pitched up-and-in is getting plunked. Still, this has been too consistent a theme for Harper as a Phillie, and he’s expressed frustration in the past that some pitchers arrive in the majors without being able to control their huge velocity, which in a way can be a weapon.
He was hit in the right ankle by a 96 mph fastball from Blue Jays right-hander Trent Thornton in spring training 2019.
He was hit in the face by a 97 mph Genesis Cabrera fastball in 2021.
He was hit on the left thumb by a 97 mph Blake Snell fastball in 2022 and missed two months as a result.
And then on Wednesday, Lovelady nailed him with the seventh pitch of the plate appearance after nearly hitting him with the first.
The Phillies won the exhibition game, 9-6. Lefty-hitting power prospect Gabriel Rincones Jr. hit his second home run of the spring, this time to the opposite field, and the Phillies rallied for five runs in the sixth, the starters’ final inning.
The Phils are home Thursday and Friday to play the Yankees and Red Sox. Saturday is a road game in Lakeland (don’t expect many big names) and Sunday is a split-squad day with games in Clearwater and Dunedin.
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