Harper taking time with elbow recovery, but hopeful not IL time

PHILADELPHIA — Bryce Harper is still braving the pain, and isn’t shy to claim that he’s “day to day” with the elbow injury incurred by Spencer Strider drilling him just above the right elbow with a 95 mph fastball in the first inning Tuesday.

Harper just doesn’t know when that day might come.

“It’s still super sore,” Harper said before a series opener against Milwaukee at Citizens Bank Park on Friday. “I’m not sure when I’m going to play again. It hit me in a pretty bad spot, so I think the swelling’s gone down, which is good. But like I said, it’s a pretty tough spot where he got me, so I just want to be smart about it.”

As part of that recovery plan, Harper admits he has yet to swing a bat, though he did take the field pre-game Friday, to field some ground balls at first base. That’s been the extent of his rehab, since with the pain and swelling in his elbow, “I can’t really do anything (else).”

So day to day might be an accurate prognosis, just don’t be surprised if it is a few more days before Harper gets back out on the field. That said, he is optimistic he won’t have to be put on the 10-day Injured List. Well, maybe “hopeful” is a better way to characterize it.

“I hope not,” Harper said of the prospect of an IL trip. “At this point, it’s going to be three games today, so again, I’m super day-by-day.”

When he does return, Harper said he’s likely to do what his trainers and manager would like him to do: put some body armor on that elbow.

“There’s times when I’m OK with it and there’s other times where it feels kind of weird,” he said about donning some more plastic over his uni. “We found a brace that I wore during the Tommy John (surgery recovery). So I’m probably going to wear that again and have (another) brace on top of that. … It’s really hard to find braces that kind of feel good, that don’t feel as bulky. I haven’t really worn them throughout my whole career. I have here and there, just to feel it. I did in spring training this year just because of this reason. But I didn’t like the way it felt.”

Harper’s elbow pad test for “just this reason” is part of a larger concern. While he says he’s certain Strider didn’t intend to hit him, this plunking was just one of several hit-by-pitches and near misses Harper has endured in recent weeks.

Phils manager Rob Thomson puts that off as “part of the game,” though in the days when retaliation against players on the other team was still part of the game, it didn’t seem like a star offensive player had to be so much on his guard when he came to the plate. Those days of retaliation in MLB are essentially gone, but that doesn’t enable Harper to feel any more comfortable against guys throwing near or even exceeding 100 mph.

“I think that’s where teams kind of go against me. It’s a bummer just because guys throw so hard now,” Harper said. “But that’s where guys go: sinkers in, heaters up and I understand throwing inside. I totally get that. I’m all for it in baseball … just control it. Guys throw a little too hard now to do that up-and- in.”

“I’m not going to back off the plate,” Harper added. “I’ve always kind of been on top of the plate. And like I said, I totally understand going inside. It’s part of the game. I get it. It’s just a little scarier nowadays just because guys throw harder.”

As for whether MLB could intervene with something that would make a pitcher think twice before running the risk of hitting batters with the hard stuff, Harper shook his head and said, “I don’t know. I feel like that’s such a question I don’t want to answer right now. I don’t want to figure out if the league’s going to get in on it. That’s such a difficult situation.”

Harper’s former teammate Rhys Hoskins, in town with the Brewers, agreed with that viewpoint, even if he hasn’t had as many painful plunkings as his old Phillies friend.

“That’s a tough topic for me as a hitter, because I understand the pitchers’ standpoint of what it does for them, establishing the inside part of the plate,” Hoskins said. “But (you can) also say there’s always a way to do that, and if you can’t do it, then maybe that shouldn’t be such a priority for you, in terms of the safety for guys now, especially with the velocities being as high as they are.

“I’ve seen that (Harper) has been getting hit a little bit. I saw the whole thing with Strider. Obviously I don’t think there’s any intention, but with really, really great hitters, often there’s a hole inside there. … I don’t think there’s much intention behind it, but that’s what happens when you face great hitters.”