When it was first reported that Philadelphia Phillies superstar Bryce Harper was going to learn how to play first base, it was thought of as a move that would make total sense for the 2023 Phillies.
Rhys Hoskins, who was going to be the club’s first baseman, tore his ACL late in spring training, leaving Philadelphia to scramble to find a new player for the position — something that wouldn’t be easy.
Hoskins was an important piece to the Phillies lineup a year ago. He hit 30 home runs with a .794 OPS in 156 regular season games. The right-handed hitter then slugged six homers during the club’s postseason run. It was clear the team would miss his presence in the batting order. And they started to miss Hoskins rather quickly.
Darick Hall took over the first base duties after Hoskins went down, but Hall himself went on the injured list barely a week into the season with a thumb injury. The Phillies then turned to an Alec Bohm-Kody Clemens platoon at first. Bohm was fine, but Clemens struggled at the plate at times. Then, when Hall eventually returned to the big leagues post injury, he was not what the Phillies needed and was optioned back down to Triple-A.
Even if the Phillies didn’t have to play musical chairs at first, having Harper play the position would allow Kyle Schwarber, who has struggled defensively in left field this year, to do most of the club’s DHing moving forward.
Harper eventually made his Phillies debut at first base on July 21 in a game against the Cleveland Guardians. Since then, he’s looked comfortable at the position and has made some rather impressive plays — including a highlight-worthy catch in that game against Cleveland.
With that, along with the fact that Hoskins, 30, is set to become a free agent at season’s end, a rather interesting question arises: Do the Phillies have a Hoskins replacement in Harper?
Now, it’s not clear if the organization would or wouldn’t want to re-sign Hoskins this winter. But, depending on the price tag and how comfortable they are with him coming off an ACL tear, Philadelphia may want to use their financial resources elsewhere — like on a new contract for Aaron Nola.
Even though all of this is just theory, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski recently discussed Harper’s future at first, giving us insight into how the organization feels about the subject.
While appearing on The Athletic’s podcast ‘Starkville’ earlier this week, Dombrowski was asked by Jayson Stark if, given how the team lines up moving forward, it’s possible Harper is the club’s first baseman of the future.
Dombrowski responded by saying, “Well, if you’d say ‘Is it possible?’ I’d say ‘Yes, it is possible.’ We have not had that conversation at all.” He continued, “The only thing I do know is that I asked [Bryce] a week or so ago how he likes [playing first base]. And he likes it a great deal.” Dombrowski finished his response by noting, “We’ll wait and see what [happens].”
That’s clearly not a straightforward response, and Dombrowski wasn’t going to give one. The Phillies have their eyes set on the rest of 2023 and making the playoffs right now, not 2024 and beyond. Right now, they are just hoping Harper does not miss much time after he left Thursday’s game against the Nationals with back spasms. Rob Thomson told reporters after the game that he’s day-to-day.
But it does show that the Phillies think it is a possibility Harper is standing at first base for them on Opening Day next March.
However, just because it’s a possibility, doesn’t mean it’s going to be the plan. That being said, moving Harper back into the outfield next season — if Hoskins returns or the Phillies go another direction at first — would mean Nick Castellanos would need to be moved out of right field. Castellanos could DH or even move over to left field, making Schwarber the club’s full-time DH.
But if Hoskins does leave and Harper is okay playing first base moving forward, it would make sense to just keep Harper at first to not disrupt the club’s outfield situation any further. The less moving pieces the better.
Harper, who turns 31 in October, isn’t likely to play right field for the rest of his career. Some people have always felt he’d eventually turn into a first baseman or full-time DH down the line. Could that become reality sooner rather than later? It’s possible.
Must-read (or watch) Phillies content
- Staying on the topic of Harper, he had back spasms that caused him to be removed from last night’s game — a 6-2 Phillies win.
- If you missed it, Michael Lorenzen tossed the 14th no-hitter in Phillies history on Wednesday night and talked about ‘one of the coolest moments of his baseball career’ afterwards.
- Here’s the final out of Lorenzen’s no-no, along with the reaction of his family members that were in attendance:
- While the no-hitter stole the show, Weston Wilson homered in his first Major League at-bat on Wednesday. And his father’s reaction said it all:
- Cole Hamels, one of the Phillies’ most iconic pitchers, retired last week and Phillies Nation’s Tim Kelly looked into whether or not the Phillies should retire Hamels’ number.
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