Bryce Harper’s season may be in jeopardy, after the reigning NL MVP suffered a fractured thumb in Saturday’s game against the Padres.
Facing Blake Snell in the fourth inning, Harper had to duck to avoid a 97mph fastball that sailed up and in, but the pitch still hit Harper in his left hand, leaving the Phillies slugger in visible pain.
Harper immediately left the game, and the Phillies announced shortly afterwards that initial tests revealed the fracture.
More details will be known after further tests take place, and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters that it is too soon to tell if Harper will need surgery.
As such, the door isn’t closed on a potential Harper return, as Dombrowski is “hopeful he’ll be back at some point.”
If surgery is required, Harper is in danger of missing the remainder of the 2022 campaign.
While every specific injury is different, for comparion’s sake, Jean Segura was given a recovery timeline of 10-12 weeks after the Philadelphia second baseman suffered his own fractured finger in late May and had to undergo surgery.
Losing Segura was a brutal enough outcome for the Phils, yet the team rebounded to post its best month of the season.
The Phillies had a 22-29 record under former manager Joe Girardi, but after Girardi was fired and Rob Thomson was elevated from bench coach to interim manager
Philadelphia promptly went on a 15-6 run over Thomson’s first 21 games as skipper.
That run got the Phillies back up over the .500 mark (37-35) heading into tonight’s action, and three games out of an NL wild card berth.