March 19, 2024
Jonathan Dyer/USA TODAY Sports
MLB players agree that Bryce Harper is just a different beast.
The countdown to Opening Day is growing shorter and Citizens Bank Park will be rocking again for the new 2024 season before we know it.
There are still some finishing touches to put on spring training down in Clearwater though, so until then, here's what they're saying about the Phillies...
MLB.com beat writers have been spending parts of their time down at spring training surveying their respective clubhouses on a variety of topics leading into the 2024 season.
On the subject of baseball's fiercest competitors, with the results from a pool of more than 100 anonymous players posted late last week, there seemed to be two clear conclusions:
1) Max Scherzer on the mound is terrifying.
2) You don't want to see Bryce Harper at the plate either.
Wrote Thomas Harrigan of Harper, who was voted the second fiercest competitor in baseball via the player survey:
Was there really any doubt that Harper was going to beat the initial timetable for his return from Tommy John surgery last season? The Phillies said they expected to have Harper back as their designated hitter around the All-Star break. He returned on May 2.
...
"He's one of the best players in baseball in those big moments,” said one AL outfielder. “His highlight reel has to be ridiculous at this point. And I've only ever heard good things from the dudes who have played with Bryce."
Harper has shown a strong competitive drive from a young age, even going as far as getting his GED in high school so he could qualify for the MLB Draft sooner. He enrolled in junior college for a year and went on to be selected first overall in the 2010 MLB Draft by the Nationals at the age of 17. He was still a teenager when he debuted less than two years later.
Somehow, Harper has managed to live up to the massive expectations bestowed upon him, winning two MVP Awards and signing one of the largest free-agent deals in MLB history (13 years, $330 million). [MLB.com]
Bryce Harper has sat out the last few spring games and is expected to miss at least a couple more with back stiffness.
Manager Rob Thomson said over the weekend that the club isn't really all that worried about it, even with speculation from the outside that maybe they should be.
Then on Monday, Harper spoke about the situation. He isn't concerned either. “I’m fine," he told reporters, though these types of back issues aren't exactly new.
More from Harper and his recent history of back issues via Todd Zolecki:
Last season, Harper experienced mid-back spasms in an Aug. 10 game against Washington. He left that game early, then missed the next day’s game before returning to action. Harper started 14 of the next 20 games at DH before returning to regular action at first base on Sept. 5.
“I don’t think that was very severe either, though, at that point,” Harper said. “I don’t have spasms right now, which is good. I’m just sore.”
Harper plans to be the Phillies’ everyday first baseman this year, leaving behind his former job as a right fielder.
Asked if he has any sense how his new position could affect his back, Harper said, chuckling, “I mean, my back hurt when I played the outfield, too. I don’t know. Obviously, it’s going to be a transition at first base. I’m going to feel aches and pains. I did last year. My aches and pains were more in my legs than they were in my back at first, just from the stretching and being on my feet. But I feel like it’s kind of the same, that feeling of standing every day or all over. But, it’s [infield coach] Bobby [Dickerson’s] fault. He’s working me too hard.” [MLB.com]
Harper is still expected to be ready for Opening Day.
Orion Kerkering was thrown right into the fire last season and didn't flinch.
Even under the bright lights of the playoffs, the 22-year old Kerkering took his call from the pen and got outs, using some nasty stuff to do it – mainly, that slider.
David Laurila spoke with Kerkering to get into the finer details of how his version of the pitch works:
That Kerkering was then entrusted to take the ball in the playoffs was a testament to his talent — a big part of which is a bat-missing offering even more impressive than his 98.6-mph fastball.
“That’s hard for me to do,” Kerkering replied when asked to describe his signature pitch. “I call it a slider and everyone says it’s one of the best ones out there. To that, I’m kind of, ‘OK, whatever. That’s fine.’ I just trust it as much as I can.”
The 22-year-old right-hander started throwing a slider as a Venice, Florida prep. Velocity-wise, it was 78-81 mph early on, and from there it got “faster and faster” to where it is now a crisp 86-87. The shape is basically the same — “with maybe a little more movement” — as is the grip.
“It’s kind of like how you teach a 12-year-old a curveball,” he said of the grip. “But instead of spinning on top of it, I spin on the 1:20-2:00 o’clock axis. If you think of [Clayton] Kershaw’s curveball, it will spin and then drop. Mine is the same way. It has the gyro spin, then it takes off.” [FanGraphs]
The hope from the Phillies is that Kerkering will continue to step up as a key piece in their bullpen this season. That might have to wait a bit, however, as a bad bout with the flu set him behind in the spring, per The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Nick Castellanos' 2023 season rubberbanded between being an unstoppable force at the plate to fanning and chasing on nearly any and every pitch. He was the former leading up to the All-Star Game and through the NLDS when he absolutely crushed the Braves, but then was the latter in parts of the season's second half and the bitter seven-game defeat to the Diamondbacks in the NLCS.
He spent the winter learning to stay relaxed, while also coming back another year older – wiser, definitely, but in the larger context of pro baseball, a potentially pivotal point in his career. He also took up jiu-jitsu.
From Matt Gelb in an expansive profile on Castellanos, who remains as strong of a quote as ever:
There is a certain wisdom that comes with surviving frequent failure. This is what getting older in baseball requires. Or, as Castellanos put it: “That’s 70 percent of the time you want to go bash your head through a f—ing wall.” He is 32. That is not old, except it is. Last season, there were 17 players 32 or older with enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title. That was the fewest since 1968 — when there were 20 teams in Major League Baseball.
There is no predicting Castellanos. He was the Phillies’ best hitter for the first three months of 2023, then had the worst month of his career in July. His 112 OPS+ meant he was 12 percent better than the league average over the entire season. But he is less important to the team’s success than when he signed with the Phillies two years ago; Castellanos could regularly bat seventh in 2024. He is convinced that he is physically and mentally stronger than ever before in his career.
With age, comes mindfulness. Or something like that.
“There’s a lot of baseball players that are like milk,” Castellanos said. “Milk is only good when it’s fresh. And then as you leave it out a while, it spoils. There are some other baseball players that are like wine. What happens with wine?” [The Athletic]
Because he'd much rather have his career age that way.
One more if you need a tug at your heartstrings (or another if you've seen it already).
Bryson Stott talking about his newborn daughter during a mid-game interview this past weekend:
ICYMI: Bryson Stott gets choked up while talking about his daughter 😭 pic.twitter.com/4PewCiwysy
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) March 18, 2024
The Phillies' Daycare is growing up so fast.
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