Harper on playing first base: 'I feel very comfortable'

This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

This could work.

If you watched Bryce Harper’s debut at first base on Friday night in Cleveland, then you saw him coolly field a bouncer and flip it to Ranger Suárez for the first out in the first inning at Progressive Field. You saw him snare a line drive to his left to start the second. You saw him leap into the camera well to catch a pop fly in foul territory in the third.

“I thought there was more netting there than there was,” Harper said.

Harper made eight plays in the field in a 6-5 loss to the Guardians. He looked more than competent with each one.

“I feel very comfortable,” Harper said. “We’ve been working for a couple months now, and I feel normal going out there playing and slowing it down as best as possible and just playing good baseball.”

Harper is not expected to play first base on Saturday because the Phillies plan to ease him into things after not playing in the field defensively anywhere since April 16, 2022. But Harper will be back at first base soon, maybe Sunday. The Phillies hope he continues to show positive signs of handling the position because it will open a door of possibilities for them before the Aug. 1 Trade Deadline.

“If Bryce can move to first base, it allows us to free up the DH spot and put Kyle [Schwarber] there a little bit more, and then, we have the ability to decide what we want to do in left field -- or the outfield, period,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said on Wednesday. “Really, what we’re looking for a little bit is somebody that can swing the bat from the right-hand side, but not just any position, either. I keep a little open-mindedness to that because there’s some different type of thought processes that we have.”

Outfielders potentially available include Randal Grichuk, Tommy Pham and Lane Thomas, who hit right-handed; and Cody Bellinger, who hits left-handed. The Phillies prefer a right-handed bat because they never truly replaced Rhys Hoskins, who tore his left ACL in March.

Hoskins, who Harper is trying to replace defensively, has been impressed with what he has seen.

“He’s a team guy,” Hoskins said. “It’s a need for the team, so he’s just trying to do what he can to put the team in the best position to win. You don’t normally see guys do this halfway through their career, let alone a future Hall of Famer.”