Phillies Open To Trying Anything With Bryce Harper Out
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
The Philadelphia Phillies can attest to that after losing Bryce Harper due to a broken thumb.
Harper suffered the injury when batting against Blake Snell over the weekend in San Diego.
The Phillies now appear to be willing to try anything and everything with their superstar sidelined for the foreseeable future.
They recently have called up Darick Hall from Triple-A.
Matt Gelb of The Athletic tweeted that the Phillies believe they have use for Hall, but that he’s going to be used for a specific purpose, that being to only face right-handed pitchers at the major league level.
Hall has annually led Phillies farmhands in exit velocities, but he’ll only face RHP in majors. He plays one position, which is manned by Rhys Hoskins, so they’re probably going back to Nick Castellanos in RF vs. RHP. Leaning into chaos and, well, there are no dumb ideas. https://t.co/WCqeHVhV9a
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) June 29, 2022
In Need Of A Spark
The Phillies are in need of something and right now they are and should be willing to try anything and everything in order to replicate Harper’s production.
As Gelb mentioned in his tweet, there really are no dumb ideas as the Phillies prepare for an extended period of time without their star.
It seems as though they will be relying on Nick Castellanos to take most of the at-bats against right-handers, but Hall at least gives them an extra bat off the bench.
It’s better than nothing.
Perhaps we could see the Phillies search the trade market for a bat or two at the deadline, similarly to how the Atlanta Braves did last year with Ronald Acuna Jr. out, when they acquired Joc Pederson, Eddie Rosario, and Adam Duvall.
The Phils need to open to multiple options if they want to stay afloat in the Wild Card race.
They’re only three games back of the St. Louis Cardinals for the final spot, but they will need to address Harper’s absence at some point.