Phillies Nation Exhales! Bryce Harper’s Injury Update Brings Relief to Frantic Fans
The Philadelphia Phillies are already dealing with the fallout after one of their projected roster players picked up an injury, so the last thing they need is for one of their stars to go down too.
That’s why just about everyone held their breath when Bryce Harper was hit by a pitch in their spring training game against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.
It didn’t look like anything major was going to come out of it, but crazier things have happened.
Thankfully, the Phillies got the good news they were hoping for when it was revealed that imaging on Harper’s arm suggested no damage other than bruising, meaning X-Rays won’t be required, as reported by Madison Williams of Sports Illustrated.
Manager Rob Thomson didn’t seem to be too worried after it happened, saying, “We’re not really over-concerned at all” when the spring game ended, per Corey Seidman of NBC Sports Philadelphia.
Harper, on the other hand, was visibly frustrated.
He’s been vocal about pitchers with high velocity and low control being pushed up through the minors too quickly, creating a dangerous situation for the hitters.
That wasn’t necessarily the case in this scenario.
Richard Lovelady, the pitcher who hit Harper, has 108 Major League appearances under his belt. That doesn’t mean he’s going to be sharp just a few weeks into the spring, though, something Thomson stated when giving the pitcher some slack for what happened.
“It’s early spring training so guys don’t have their command down. There were a bunch of guys hit today. I can’t speak for the kid but maybe he was a little nervous, it’s Bryce Harper. It’s baseball,” he said.
Injuries occur during the spring when players ramp back up for baseball activities, but having Harper go down for a significant amount of time because he was hit by a pitch in an exhibition game would have been a tough way to start the year for Philadelphia.
Fortunately, they don’t have to deal with that reality on this occassion.