Bryce Harper's rough stretch continues with IL placement

The Phillies announced that Bryce Harper has been placed on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to June 6) due to inflammation in his right wrist. Utilityman Otto Kemp had his contract selected from Triple-A in a corresponding move, and no 40-man transaction was needed since the Phillies only had 39 men on their 40-man roster. Philadelphia also sent right-hander Alan Rangel down to Triple-A while calling up righty Daniel Robert to provide a fresh arm for the bullpen.

Harper didn’t play in the Phils’ 5-4 loss to the Pirates Friday, and manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer) that Harper was being given a rest day to deal with a wrist problem that has been bothering the first baseman “for a while,” as Thomson put it. Lauber wrote that it isn’t known if this current injury is similar to or a continuation of the right wrist issue that also nagged at Harper during the 2024 season.

It’s been a rough stretch overall for Harper on the health front, as he was hit on the right elbow by a Spencer Strider pitch on May 27 and then missed Philadelphia’s next five games. No IL stint was ultimately required for that injury, though Harper had only one hit in 11 plate appearances after returning to the lineup. Between both Harper’s wrist and any lingering soreness with his elbow, a proper IL placement seems like a good idea to allow Harper to get fully rested and healed up.

Harper is hitting .258/.368/.446 with nine home runs over 253 PA this season — good for a strong 129 wRC+ but down from Harper’s usual superstar levels of production. While there’s never a good time to get drilled on the elbow by a Major League pitch, Harper’s painful encounter with Strider came at a particularly inopportune moment, as Harper had a .936 OPS in the 20 games prior to May 27.

With Harper either unavailable or not hitting much, the Phillies have hit a slump in the last week, losing seven of their last eight games. Alec Bohm moved over to play first base in Harper’s previous absence and Edmundo Sosa played third base, so that will likely be the most standard alignment for the Phils while Harper is on the IL. Weston Wilson could also factor into the infield picture if utilityman Sosa is spending more time in an everyday role, and Kemp has seen a lot of time at first, second and third base (plus a handful of games at shortstop and in the corner outfield) during his four minor league seasons.

Kemp will be making his Major League debut whenever he first appears in a game for the Phillies, which marks quite a journey for a player who went undrafted in 2022. Philadelphia signed Kemp as a free agent following the draft and he has only gotten better as he has risen through the minor league ranks, including some sensational numbers at Triple-A Lehigh Valley this year. The 25-year-old Kemp is hitting .317/.417/.602 with over 264 Triple-A plate appearances, and he leads the International League with 14 home runs.

This kind of production is more than worthy of a look at the MLB level, and Kemp figures to also be part of the third base picture while Harper is out. Like Bohm, Sosa, and Wilson, Kemp is also a right-handed hitter, so it doesn’t make for a smooth platoon situation. Since Kemp has played some left field in Lehigh Valley, however, he might get some time in left field in place of the left-handed hitting Max Kepler if a southpaw is on the mound.