Bryce Harper worked a miracle in 2023.
When the Phillies strolled into Clearwater in late February last year, they did so with the knowledge they would be without Harper, their best player, for at least the first two months of the season. The most realistic timetable for Harper’s return from Tommy John surgery was the All Star break.
And that all made sense. Harper couldn’t throw a baseball from the outfield and, even as a designated hitter, Tommy John surgery routinely requires a few months for the elbow to heal long enough to swing a bat effectively. So fans approached the ‘23 season with the hope the team would be able to hang on, stay around .500 or so, and wait for the former MVP to return to the lineup sometime in mid-July.
Then, word started leaking out from the Phils that Harper was ahead of schedule. He was doing “dry swings” in April. He was in the batting cages months earlier than expected. Despite their initial, more conservative estimates, Harper seemed to be chugging along much quicker in his recovery from surgery.
Finally, shockingly, Harper returned to the lineup roughly three months earlier than anyone expected, making his season debut on May 2 against the Dodgers. And despite a slow start in which he endured a home run drought that stretched 38 games (May 26-July 15), Harper still finished the season as one of the game’s top offensive performers.
Not only that, he learned an entirely new position in the span of two months and proceeded to play it at a high level, all while rehabbing his elbow. You can probably count on one finger the number of players who could have pulled it off.
That one player plays for your Philadelphia Phillies.
