Bryce Harper likely to make Phillies spring-training game debut on Saturday
He'll likely be the designated hitter against the Blue Jays in his first action since inking his contract.
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The Phillies won’t have to wait long to see Bryce Harper in action, as he will likely make his spring-training debut on Saturday, just one week after his introductory news conference.
Harper will likely be the team’s designated hitter on Saturday against the Blue Jays at Spectrum Field, manager Gabe Kapler said on Sunday.
“I’m going to take my time. I don’t want to rush. I’ll be ready for opening day, March 28,” Harper said. “Just trying to take it day by day and once I can get into a game, I will.”
Kapler said after the team’s game in Fort Myers that Harper will face live pitching this week and continue to work with the team’s strength and conditioning staff as they build him up after he missed the first three weeks of spring training.
“Obviously we want to make sure Bryce gets off on the right foot and create a schedule for him that leads to success and health. So there’s a lot to think about," Kapler said. "It’s the good kind of stressful, the exciting kind of stressful. It definitely feels more like spring training today than it did yesterday, but there’s still a lot to think about.”
Harper worked out with the Phillies on Sunday in Clearwater as half of the team traveled to Fort Myers to play the Twins. He did conditioning drills, took batting practice and shagged fly balls. The Phillies will have Harper face live pitching on the back fields before playing Saturday. His only pitching he saw this winter was the batting-practice his dad threw to him while Harper in Las Vegas while Harper was waiting to sign his record-setting deal.
“The swing’s my swing, so I’ll try to see as much live BP as I can this week to get ready for games and stuff like that,” Harper said. “I just want to see pitches. It doesn’t matter who it’s from or anything like that. So I just want to see that and see rotation, feel what it feels like to be in my cleats today and be on the grass and just be out there.”