Joe Girardi gushes about Bryce Harper: ‘He’s such a good person’

Throughout spring training, new Philadelphia Phillies manager Joe Girardi has made a concerted effort to deliver praise when a player impresses.

With the MLB season on hold, Girardi, like many others around baseball, have some extra time on their hands. He joined Mike Missanelli for an interview on 97.5 The Fanatic on Thursday afternoon. During the interview, Missanelli told Girardi that Harper just announced that he has made a donation to Philadelphia non-profit Philabundance.

“He’s such a good person,” Girardi said of Harper, who is entering his second season with the Phillies.

He went on to speak about Harper’s showing in spring training.

“I was so impressed by him in spring training and his work ethic and how hard he plays. I actually got nervous one day because he got a hit. He stole second. He stole third and I looked at Dusty Wathan, [the Phillies] third base coach, and said ‘tell him he can’t steal home. That’s enough.'”

In 16 Grapefruit League at-bats, Harper slashed .500/.591/.1.841 and was by far the hottest hitter in camp. While the sample size is low and spring training results don’t really matter, it’s easy to wonder if Harper could have kept a hot bat into the regular season if the season had not been suspended due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

Overall, it seems Girardi likes what he sees from both Harper the ballplayer and Harper the man.

“He plays to win all the time. He has an exact plan of what he’s going to do and he’s a very generous person that takes care of people.”

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