![]() In fact, besides Harper, only Hoskins (172 wRC+ in 99 PA) and Schwarber (183 wRC+ in 104 PA) have provided significantly better-than-average offense while playing regularly in June. None of the second basemen who have replaced Segura - Bryson Stott, Johan Camargo, and Yairo Muñoz - have been productive. He’ll be out for 10–12 weeks due to a broken right ring finger that required surgery. The team’s defensive situation has been further exacerbated by the loss of Jean Segura, the most defensively adept infielder in a group that also includes Rhys Hoskins, Didi Gregorius, and Alec Bohm, a trio that has combined for -10 DRS and -11 RAA. Castellanos (-12 DRS, -6 RAA) and Schwarber (-2 DRS, -4 RAA) have both played their parts in deflating those numbers, with the former also hitting for just a 93 wRC+ this year (.252/.306/.387), making the tradeoff even worse. As it is, the team entered Sunday tied for eighth in the NL in defensive efficiency (.688, four points below league average) but second-to-last in both Defensive Runs Saved (-26) and in Fielding Runs Prevented (-21). While the move to DH kept Harper in the lineup, it exacerbated the Phillies’ already obvious defensive woes, as both Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos, the team’s two big-money free agents from this past winter, had to play the outfield at the same time in order to keep their bats in the lineup. ![]() But at this writing, he’s the third of the NL’s top 10 players in WAR to be sidelined by an injury, joining Manny Machado (sprained left ankle) and Mookie Betts (cracked rib) in the virtual infirmary. This month, as the team has gone 18–6 (17–6 since firing Girardi, including wins on Saturday and Sunday over the Padres), Harper hit. 318/.385/.599 with 15 homers, with both his slugging percentage and 166 wRC+ ranking second in the NL - the latter mark just four points below last year’s major league-leading figure - and his 2.7 WAR ninth. ![]() Last week, he missed three games due to an infected blister at the base of his left index finger.ĭespite the elbow injury, Harper has thrived. The tear is apparently traceable to an April 11 throw from right field that had limited Harper to designated hitter duty since April 17. The 29-year-old Harper, the National League’s reigning Most Valuable Player, was already playing through a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, an injury that was diagnosed in mid-May, after which he received an injection of platelet-rich plasma. I can take 98 to the face, but I can’t take 97 to the thumb.” “I kind of wish it would have hit me in the face,” Harper told reporters afterward, conveniently forgetting many a career-altering beaning.
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