PITTSBURGH — Bryce Harper has played 57 of the Phillies’ 63 games, feeling pain in his right wrist with nearly every swing he’s taken.
Harper was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday with right wrist inflammation. It’s not the first time he’s experienced this. Last August, Harper revealed that he’d been playing through wrist pain for three months.
“It’s similar. It’s definitely similar,” he said Saturday from the visiting clubhouse at PNC Park.
The wrist pain went away during the offseason, Harper said, and he didn’t feel it again until early this season. It reached a level where he no longer thought it made sense to try to play through.
“It’s been long enough. It got to the point where I can’t really function on the baseball field or hit a baseball,” he said. “Just a good time for me to take some time and get it right. Felt it early in the season and tried to play through it as long as I could.”
The injury was initially caused by a wrist contusion, though it’s not clear when that took place. The pain has progressively worsened.
Harper is unsure whether he will be back on June 16 when first eligible to return. Manager Rob Thomson is hopeful. It will depend on how Harper’s wrist responds to treatment. He won’t be swinging for at least a few days.
“Just try to get through the treatment phase and see what I can do,” Harper said. “We’ve got to get it to calm down and get out there when I can.”
The wrist pain helps explain why Harper hasn’t performed up to his standard. He’s been a well-above-average everyday player this season, hitting .258 with an .814 OPS, but it hasn’t been MVP-caliber Bryce Harper.
“Every swing,” he said. “It’s tough. Obviously, I want to be out there. It’s frustrating. I never want to not be playing. It just wasn’t good for me to keep going out there. Didn’t want to get three, four, five weeks down the road and sit there.
“It was definitely a hard decision for me. I’ve played through pain in my career and did last year. I did it for most of this year but just don’t want to do it anymore.”
The timing isn’t ideal with the Phillies having lost seven of their last eight games. But the timing would have been worse if Harper had to miss games in September or October after playing through a wrist injury for five months.
“I don’t think getting hit in the elbow (last week) has helped it, just the drainage with all the fluid coming out,” he said. “Just try to get through it as best I can. It’s gonna take some time, obviously.”
The Phillies replaced Harper on the active roster by calling up prospect Otto Kemp, who has been on a tear all season at Triple A. Kemp was in the lineup right away Saturday, batting seventh and playing third base with Alec Bohm across the diamond at first.
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