Way-too-early Phillies thoughts: A big swing for Bryce Harper, importance of Adolis García’s start, and more

A half hour after the Phillies romped around the infield like little kids to celebrate their youngest player’s walk-off hit, Bryce Harper was asked about the significance of it all.

“I mean,” he said, “we’re how many games in?”

Six.

Count ’em up: One, two, three, four, five, six. It’s 3.7% of the 2026 schedule, an eyeblink more than a snapshot. In the context of our football-loving culture, it’s the second quarter of Week 1.

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So, yes, it’s too soon to extrapolate much from a 10-inning comeback victory against an opponent that’s likely to lose 100 games. There’s even less meaning in a single swing when there are thousands more to come over six months.

But it’s Harper, and he’s off to a 3-for-25 start, and the Phillies don’t play again until Friday afternoon in Denver. So, why don’t we dig in on that 425-foot homer in the eighth inning Wednesday, Harper’s first dinger of the season?

Surely, it felt cathartic for the Face of the Franchise.

“It was good,” Harper said. “A first-pitch curveball. Still chasing a little too much, but I feel good. We’ll get going.”

OK, a few things:

Nationals lefty reliever Cionel Pérez did throw a first-pitch curveball. Harper tends to see that a lot. The Nats started him with a breaking ball (curveball or slider) in four of his five at-bats Wednesday and nine of 14 in the three-game series. He swung at five of them, including two in the dirt.

In the season-opening series against the Rangers, Harper saw a first-pitch breaking ball in eight of 13 at-bats. He swung at three, one of which was out of the strike zone.

The scouting report is overt. Until 2023, more than half the pitches that Harper saw in a season were fastballs. Last year, he faced a lower rate of heaters than ever (46.8%). So far this season — small sample alert! — he actually has seen more breaking pitches (45) than heaters (39).

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There’s one way for Harper to change that pattern: Hit the breaking pitches. Last season, he batted .231 and slugged only .418 on curveballs and sliders. Through six games this year, he’s batting .250 (2-for-8) and slugging .625. Until he earns more fastballs, he won’t get them.

So, maybe the type of pitch that Harper took deep against Pérez was as important as the homer itself.

“I don’t know,” Harper said. “I mean, I feel like it takes me some time to get going a little bit here and there. Obviously a good swing, but still [finished] 1-for-5. I don’t like that. But we won the game, and that’s what matters at the end of the day. I want to be better. We’ll get there.”

A few other way-too-early observations from the season-opening homestand:

Kyle Schwarber and Harper bat from the left side of the plate. And although they typically produce against same-side pitching, the Phillies are susceptible to getting shut down by left-handers, which partially explains their pursuit of righty-swinging Bo Bichette in free agency.

It also amplifies the importance of Adolis García’s start.

García hit his first Phillies homer Tuesday night, part of a 7-for-22 (.318) homestand for the new right fielder. Six of those hits came in three games against the Nationals.

“He’s locked into the strike zone, and, again, he’s using the field,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He’s got some big hits for us. He’s playing really well.”

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Well enough to move into the cleanup spot?

Let’s come back to that.

Cast off by the Rangers in the offseason after swinging at 34.5% of pitches out of the zone the last two years and posting a 95 OPS+, García received a one-year, $10 million flier from the Phillies to replace Nick Castellanos.

Hitting coach Kevin Long and assistant Edwar Gonzalez preached a more disciplined approach in spring training. They also lowered García’s hands and straightened his bat rather than pointing it toward the pitcher. The result: He still swings at a high rate of non-strikes, but for now, he’s making more consistent contact.

“It feels really good,” he said through a team interpreter. “I’ve been working really hard on trying to have good at-bats, hitting the ball hard, and I’ve been getting hits with it now.”

García was a cleanup hitter for much of his time in Texas. Thomson prefers not to juggle the top of the batting order. But with Alec Bohm off to a 2-for-21 start, García could be another option in the No. 4 spot behind Harper.

Zack Wheeler is scheduled for five innings in his second triple-A start Friday night in Durham, N.C., and his third next week at home for Lehigh Valley.

After that?

“Just read and react,” Thomson said.

It’s possible, then, that Wheeler could rejoin the rotation midway through the next homestand against the Cubs (April 13-15) or Braves (April 17-19). Either way, he’s ahead of schedule six months after surgery to treat thoracic outlet syndrome by removing a rib to relieve a compressed vein.

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When Wheeler returns, Taijuan Walker presumably will move to the bullpen as a long reliever. But the Phillies also play 33 games in 35 days beginning April 17. Maybe they would consider moving to a six-man rotation for at least part of that stretch.

As presently constituted, the bullpen lacks a traditional long man. It’s by design. Thomson prefers carrying multiple two-inning relievers, especially because the starters tend to pitch deeper into games than most rotations.

“The problem you get with a true long guy is that he never gets there,” Thomson said. “After a couple of weeks, he hasn’t thrown five innings, so then now he becomes a two-inning guy because he’s not stretched out. So, yeah, I prefer having multiple people being able to go two innings.”

Keeping Walker in the rotation for a few turns might enable the Phillies to manage the starters’ workloads early in the season, which could be particularly important later for Wheeler and Andrew Painter.

Just something to watch.

In discussing Justin Crawford’s tendency to hit the ball on the ground, triple-A Lehigh Valley hitting coach Adam Lind made an observation.

“Whenever a defender has to take one step away from first base,” Lind said, “that usually means he’ll be safe.”

It’s a reflection of Crawford’s blazing speed and contact skills. If an opponent plays its third baseman in to respect Crawford’s bunting ability, he can shoot the ball the other way or up the middle.

Crawford is 7-for-17 to begin his major league career. He’s the fifth Phillies player since 1961 to have at least seven hits in his first five games, joining Nick Maton (2021), Jimmy Rollins (2000), Mike Lieberthal (1994), and Kevin Stocker (1993).

“It’s a different profile,” Schwarber said. “Trea [Turner] is obviously a little bit different at the top [of the order], but there’s still a lot of similarities, too, right? To be able to have that dynamic of some more speed, where you feel like he’s going to be running around, creating some havoc. It’s always good to have diversity throughout a lineup.”