Philadelphia Phillies Slugger Still Considered Franchise Cornerstone Player

It has been a tough stretch of late for the Philadelphia Phillies, but after a nice series win over the Chicago Cubs, things will hopefully be turning around.

The Phillies have been a bit inconsistent so far this season with both some good stretches and poor stretches of baseball.

After getting off to a sluggish start, Philadelphia got red hot and ultimately took over first place in the National League East. However, that was short-lived with a really poor run of late.

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This is still a team that has high expectations about what they can accomplish this year, and they have a lot of star power on the team.

With a lot of success in recent years thanks to their current core of talent, the unit is getting a bit older and this could be a different-looking team in 2026. Fortunately, they still have some great talent that will be leading the way in the future.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about star slugger Bryce Harper still being the cornerstone player for the Phillies.

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“He is still at the heart of everything Philadelphia does, too, and it's missing him on the IL at the moment, being stuck in one heck of a funk over the past 10 days," he wrote.

Since coming over to Philadelphia in free agency, Harper has been able to help turn the franchise around for the positive. Since 2019, he has slashed 283/.389/.527 for the Phillies, including winning the NL MVP in 2021.

Significant long-term contracts don’t always work out, but Harper has lived up to expectations for Philadelphia so far.

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Even though he has been in the Majors now since 2012, he is still just 32 years old and still very much in his prime. Harper was an All-Star for Philadelphia in 2024, slashing .285/.373/.525 with 30 home runs and 87 RBI.

This year, the Phillies certainly miss him in the middle of their order of late. With some fellow hitters struggling in the lineup, Philadelphia has relied heavily on Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Trea Turner this campaign.

The unit can be one of the best in the league when firing on all cylinders, but there have been a lot of inconsistencies up and down the batting order.

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With some key players hitting free agency at the end of the season, it will still be Harper leading whatever the team might look like going forward.

For Philadelphia this year, they will hope to have their cornerstone player back in the lineup as soon as possible to help make up for the recent struggles the team has had.

For more Phillies news, head over to Phillies On SI.