Bryce Harper not the only star making a position switch: ‘Nowadays, it’s about adaptability’

Harper’s move is a rare mid-career challenge for an All-Star, but it is becoming more common. “If you have guys that can do that, I mean, why not?”

Bryce Harper works out each morning with the Phillies infield coaches, including former shortstop and manager Larry Bowa.Read moreHeather Khalifa / Staff Photographer

by Scott Lauber

Published Feb. 22, 2024, 5:26 p.m. ET

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Bryce Harper begins most days by meeting coach Bobby Dickerson on the infield next to the Phillies’ clubhouse. He fields dozens of grounders and hones his footwork, most of which he did last year after volunteering to learn first base.

But if Harper assumed that spring training would be merely an extension of last season’s three-month crash course, the paddle on his glove hand and softball mask over his face suggest otherwise.

Welcome to Camp Dickerson, a prerequisite for all Phillies infielders. And since Harper is an infielder now, after agreeing to a full-fledged position switch, he isn’t exempt from the odd-looking Dickersonian drill designed to sharpen players’ focus by putting their face behind the glove as they catch tennis balls.

“I didn’t really second-guess it or anything. I just went with it,” Harper said Thursday. “It’s just understanding and trying to learn from him. Dicky’s had a lot of Gold Glovers in his life, a lot of guys he’s worked with. You look at J.J. Hardy, Manny [Machado]. If he tells me to put a mask on, I’m definitely going to do it.”

Last year, Harper came up with the idea of moving to first base. After the Phillies lost Rhys Hoskins to season-ending knee surgery and fill-in Darick Hall to a broken thumb, Harper told president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski that he wanted to give first base a try.

But it was Dombrowski who told Harper in November that the Phillies preferred keeping him at first. They wanted to optimize for defense with Johan Rojas in center field and Brandon Marsh in left. It all hinged, though, on Harper’s willingness to not go back to the outfield.

“Moving over to first base is going to be a new adventure for me for a full year,” Harper conceded. “But I’m looking forward to it.”

It’s a rare mid-career challenge for an All-Star. Only four players have won an MVP award at multiple positions: Alex Rodríguez, Robin Yount, Stan Musial, and Hank Greenberg.

But it’s also becoming more common. Fernando Tatis Jr. came up as a shortstop, moved to the outfield in 2021, went back to shortstop, and is now the Padres’ right fielder. The Marlins moved Jazz Chisholm Jr. from second base to center field last season.

And as the Phillies install Harper at first base, Mookie Betts is shifting from right field, where he won six Gold Glove awards, to second base for the Dodgers after playing both positions (plus shortstop) last year.

“If you look at Mookie, it’s the adaptability of that,” Harper said. “The easy thing would’ve been to say, ‘Hey guys, I’ll go back out to right field and just play the game.’ Nowadays, it’s about adaptability and being able to learn on the fly and do the things you can to help the team win.

“The more this game goes on, I think you’re going to see this out of the draft. And I think you should. Because if you’ve got a guy that plays short, or plays second, or plays third, or plays center, to be able to move that guy around, it just gives your team that much more, right? If you have guys that can do that, I mean, why not?”

Harper was primarily a catcher in high school and junior college. When the Nationals drafted him first overall in 2010, he thought they would keep him behind the plate. That was never their intention. They moved him to the outfield as soon as he got to the minor leagues.

Given his background and experience, did Harper ever talk with the Nationals about playing multiple positions?

“I think it was always taboo, right?” Harper said. “It was always, ‘You’re crazy. You can’t do that. It’s the big leagues.’ If you have a guy that can play three positions, four positions, it makes you that much stronger. But when you get to the big leagues, it’s like, ‘Focus on one position.’ That was just the style of the game.”

Still is. The Dodgers shuttled Betts between three positions last year because infielder Gavin Lux went down with a season-ending ACL tear and Chris Taylor was banged up. But when they decided in the winter to move Betts to second base, manager Dave Roberts told reporters that he “could see him playing the rest of his career” there.

Likewise, Dombrowski and manager Rob Thomson said the Phillies didn’t consider having Harper split time between right field and first base.

“The one thing we talked about was we would do one or the other, but not both,” Dombrowski said. “I think he would do anything. But even our training staff, everybody felt, yeah, he could do it, but let’s settle on one spot.”

Said Thomson: “I think it’s just cleaner.”

Maybe. But teams continue to covet versatility. Ben Zobrist carved out a 14-year major-league career as a super-utility player. The Phillies signed Whit Merrifield because his ability to play three outfield spots, second base, and third base enabled them to thread the needle between not blocking Rojas in center field and covering in case he’s not ready.

Harper figures it’s only a matter of time before teams realize the value of versatility at the top of the roster, too.

“If we’re in a pinch, which hopefully it’s never going to happen, if they were like, ‘Hey, Harp, we need you to go to right [field] real quick,’ I’ll go to right in two seconds,” Harper said. “It’s just having that adaptability. Other people are probably like, ‘No, you’ve got to stay in one spot.’ But at the same time, I want to win, so I will play at any spot on this team that is going to help us win.”

And to be a better first baseman, he will catch tennis balls with a mask on his face.

“I want to take my work serious. Bobby knows that,” Harper said. “I don’t think he or anybody else in the front office would’ve let me do this if they didn’t think I was going to take it serious and try to be really, really good at it.”