УСАЦИ
Philadelphia’s Phillies striker and NL’s MVP manager Bryce Harper suffered a fractured left thumb on Saturday night against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park (GameTracker). Harper caught Blake Snell’s fast ball at 97 mph in his hand and immediately left the game. The Phillies announced the fracture shortly thereafter and said Harper would undergo additional tests in the coming days. They did not provide a schedule for his recovery.
Here is a video from the wrong terrain. Snell apologized, and although in obvious pain and understandably upset, Harper seemed to tell Snell that he knew he hadn’t hit him on purpose as he left the field.
Harper was limited to DH duty for most of the season due to an elbow injury. However, he had a fantastic season and took the .320 / .385 / .602 line with 21 doubles and 15 home runs in Saturday’s game. He ranks seventh in baseball in terms of extra base (37) and eighth in total number of bases (145). Simply put, Harper is indispensable.
Phyllis, meanwhile, believes Kyle Schwarber or Nick Castellanos will share DH’s commitment with more defensive Matt Wierling, who sees a more stable time to play outfield. Mickey Moniac, ranked No. 1 in the 2016 draft, reached .279 / .326 / .558 in Triple-A and can be seen. Of course, the Phillies could trade depending on the length of Harper’s recovery.
Needless to say, Harper’s loss for any length of time is a devastating blow to a team from Phyllis trying to climb into the post-season mix. They are 15-6 after replacing manager Joe Girardi with coach Rob Thomson earlier this month. Among the teams in the National League, only the Atlanta Braves (18-4) have a better result in the league during this time.
Even with the hot series after Girardi, Phyllis came in on Saturday with three games after third and last place for the wild card. FanGraphs puts its post-season odds at 29.7 percent. The shoots have not been in the post-season since 2011 and have the longest post-season drought in the NL.
Add Comment