Phillies place Bryce Harper on 10-day injured list: ‘I can’t really function on a baseball field’

PITTSBURGH — Last year, Bryce Harper played through a right wrist injury that produced, as he recalled in spring training, “pretty good pain” but subsided with rest in the offseason.

It’s back.

After sitting out Friday’s game to receive treatment and undergo a late-night MRI, Harper went on the 10-day injured list Saturday. Based on reviews of the MRI, the Phillies characterized the problem as “inflammation.”

“It’s got to the point where I can’t really function on a baseball field or hit a baseball or anything like that,” Harper said. “Just a good time for me to take some time and get it right.”

» READ MORE: ‘Phillies Extra’ Q&A: Bryce Harper on clean eating, a favorite indulgence, the value of TikTok, and more

Otto Kemp, an undrafted infielder who rose to the prospect level over the last two seasons, was added to the 40-man roster and recalled from triple-A Lehigh Valley.

But there’s concern within the organization over how long Harper will be sidelined beyond June 16, when he’s eligible to return. Neither Harper nor manager Rob Thomson provided a timetable, but Harper said “it’s going to take some time, obviously.”

“Just trying to get through the treatment phase and see what I can do,” Harper said. “We’ve got to get it to calm down and get out there when I can.”

The pain is near the lunate bone at the top of the wrist near the hand, according to Harper. The recurrence of the problem wasn’t revealed until this week, even though Harper said it has lingered “long enough.”

But there were hints Friday that a stint on the injured list might be coming. Thomson said that the wrist discomfort flares when Harper swings a bat. And considering that it didn’t improve after he recently missed five games with a bruised right elbow, it seemed to have progressed to more than a day-to-day situation.

Harper said he actually feels the pain on “every swing” and described it as “similar” to last season. The treatment is similar, too, Harper said, with one notable exception: This time, he won’t try to play through it.

“Obviously I want to be out there,” Harper said. “I never want to not be playing, so it’s frustrating for me. But it just wasn’t good for me to keep going out there. You don’t want to get three, four, five weeks down the road, and it’s still there.

“It’s definitely a hard decision for me. I’ve played through pain in my career. Last year. I did it for most of this year. I just don’t want to do it anymore.”

» READ MORE: Bryce Harper on Kyle Schwarber: ‘I don’t see him playing anywhere else’

And by getting ahead of the problem this time, Harper is hoping it won’t linger the way it did last season.

“I went 4½ months without the pain pretty much, from December until spring training and the beginning of the season a little bit,” Harper said. “So I’m hoping the things we did this offseason can kind of progress that and make me feel better.”

Although the wrist problem isn’t related to getting hit on the elbow last week by a fastball from Atlanta’s Spencer Strider, Harper suggested the former might have been exacerbated by the latter.

“I don’t think getting hit in the elbow has helped it, just from the drainage of all the fluid coming down,” Harper said. “Just trying to get through it the best I can.”

Could the Phillies have put Harper on the injured list last week while he was recovering from the bruised elbow? Maybe. But it’s also worth noting that Harper was on a 13-game hot streak (18-for-47 with a 1.008 OPS) before getting hit by the pitch and presumably while playing through wrist pain.

In any case, the offense has struggled to achieve consistency without Harper. On Friday night, for example, the Phillies scored four runs through four innings, then got one hit after the fourth in a 5-4 walk-off loss to the Pirates.

Kemp, 25, is batting .313/.416/.594 with 14 homers and a 1.010 OPS in 58 games in triple A. The Phillies have resisted calling him up partially because he doesn’t have a true position. They have a need for a righty-hitting outfielder, but he only recently began playing left field.

» READ MORE: Otto Kemp is the best story in Phillies camp, and a relevant one

Kemp was in the Phillies’ lineup Saturday at third base, with Alec Bohm moving to first. Thomson said he would use Kemp at third base, first base, and perhaps left field.

Meanwhile, the Phillies will hope Harper heals quickly.

“I don’t know how long it took to knock it out with rest [last winter], but I would think that it’s going to take less time because he’s here and we can get treatment,” Thomson said. “So I’m hoping that it’s real quick.”