Phillies’ Bryce Harper faces Ranger Suárez in batting practice; cleared to slide

CHICAGO — Ranger Suárez stepped onto the mound at the White Sox’s stadium at 1:30 p.m. local time Tuesday, as Bryce Harper stepped into the batter’s box. As if on cue, their Phillies teammates emerged. Bryson Stott watched from the top step of the dugout. Bailey Falter and Connor Brogdon leaned on the railing along the first-base line. Seranthony Domínguez and José Alvarado decided to take seats behind home plate.

It felt like an event, and rightfully so. This was Harper’s second time facing live pitching, and his first time facing a lefty since undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in November. It was Suárez’s first time facing live hitting since he first felt tightness in his left forearm on March 8.

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There is no public timeline for Suárez or Harper to return, so their teammates watched closely, hoping to get a sense of when each might be ready. Suárez alternated between the left-handed Harper and right-handed Cristian Pache, feeding them 25 pitches in all. Harper hit one hard to the warning track in center field.

Harper said Suárez “looked like Ranger,” and the eye test seemed to back that up. He located most of his spots. His pitches were moving so well that Pache pulled Suárez aside after facing him.

“The way your cutter is cutting at the very end … it looks like a fastball, and then all of a sudden, it just cuts in,” Pache said. “You look ready to pitch to me.”

Suárez said he felt “strong.” He isn’t sure if he’ll need a rehab assignment but assumes he will.

“I don’t think I had faced a batter since March,” he said. “Obviously, going from that to facing Harper is something, but it’s good. It means I’m making progress.”

When Harper returns to Philadelphia, he’ll face more live pitching. But for now, he’ll take as much as he can get. The Phillies and Harper have said they are leaning toward skipping a minor league rehab assignment entirely.

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“It’s great,” Harper said of being able to face live pitching. “Just being able to get at-bats. … I wish Ranger was throwing a few more pitches. I want to see more. I need to see more. But at this time, I want to be smart about who I’m facing. I don’t want to face a guy from low-A and get blown up in the hand or anything, either. So, just have to be smart with who I’m facing, what we’re doing, when we’re doing it.”

After Harper faced Suárez, he took some ground balls at first base. He said he still has awhile before he can throw, and won’t be cleared to play any position — including first base — until he can “really throw and do it the right way.”

Harper said he has been cleared to slide and has been practicing sliding feet-first. He said he’s not trying to rush anything.

“If I slide feet first and hit my right arm on the ground, it’s the same thing,” he said. “I could sprain my arm and be out for five, six, seven months. There’s no reason to rush that. I need to be smart in what I do. I’m not going to rush anything out there because it does nothing good for our organization if I come back the fastest and not the smartest.”

With a leadoff single in the first game of the Phillies’ doubleheader against the White Sox on Tuesday, Bryson Stott extended his hitting streak to 17 games to begin the season — a modern-day franchise record. Stott passed Puddin’ Head Jones, who had a 16-game hitting streak to begin the Whiz Kids’ pennant-winning season in 1950.

Right-handed reliever Nick Nelson will begin his rehab assignment on Tuesday with low-A Clearwater.