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Bryce Harper will be activated Friday by Phillies

Could Bryce Harper return to the Phillies on Friday? (Cheryl Pursell)

When the Philadelphia Phillies announced Monday that Bryce Harper was headed to Triple-A Lehigh Valley Tuesday to begin a rehab assignment, the plan was that he would DH every day through Saturday and then be off Sunday. Next Monday in Arizona was viewed as a possible return date for Harper.

So news that Harper wasn’t going to play for the IronPigs Wednesday after all raised some eyebrows, especially considering that Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia added that Harper “feels good” and is still “expected to work out.”

As it turns out, the timeline for Harper’s return has been accelerated.

Interim manager Rob Thomson confirmed prior to Thursday night’s game against the Cincinnati Reds that Harper will be activated Friday. Harper will DH as the Phillies open a three-game set against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“Really, I am,” Thomson said when asked how excited he is. “One, you get a great hitter back, but he’s also healthy and that’s really important to us. Putting another bat in that lineup really makes it long. Everybody knows how great of a hitter he is.”

There didn’t appear to be much rust from Harper in his two games with Lehigh Valley. He homered twice Tuesday, before delivering a walk-off double Wednesday. In an extremely small sample size, Harper posted a 2.325 OPS as an IronPig.

And let’s face it, with the 47-77 Pirates coming to town this weekend, it’s not as though Harper will be thrown back into the fire against Jacob deGrom, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.