‘Not elite’ Bryce Harper could use better lineup protection. Here are the Phillies’ options.

Maybe Bryce Harper is still ticked off. Maybe, even after his air-clearing with Dave Dombrowski, he implanted a chip on his shoulder. Maybe he’s just trying to sell T-shirts.

Either way, he got our attention.

As usual.

In case you missed it, because the holidays can be hectic, the Face of the Phillies posted a 101-second TikTok video in which he took seven swings while wearing a long-sleeve black shirt with two words — NOT ELITE — printed in all caps across the chest.

Cue the social media buzz.

Whatever the motivation, Harper’s choice in workout wear was as intentional as his “Rivalry Pack” cleats or his color-coordinated arm sleeves. He rarely does or says anything without thinking it through.

And if Dombrowski’s candid assessment of Harper’s 2025 — “He didn’t have an elite season like he has had in the past,” the Phillies’ president of baseball operations said in October — rang in Harper’s ears as he rang in the New Year, well, would it be so bad? The last time someone publicly slighted him, Harper homered twice and stared a hole through Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia in Game 3 of the divisional series in 2023.

Besides, Dombrowski wasn’t wrong. Although he omitted the inflamed right wrist that sidelined Harper for a month and ate into his counting stats (e.g., homers, RBIs, walks), Harper lagged in other areas.

To wit: Harper swung at 35.6% of pitches out of the strike zone, 129th among 144 qualified hitters, according to Statcast, and worse than the league average (28.4%) and his career mark (29.3%). If you’re wondering why he faced a lower rate of strikes (43%) than any hitter in baseball last year, that’s the biggest reason.

» READ MORE: How can Bryce Harper have an ‘elite’ season in 2026? It starts with examining his atypical 2025.

“He expanded a little bit more than we’re accustomed to,” hitting coach Kevin Long told Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast. “I don’t know what his actual chase rate ended up being, but it was probably 35%. That’s high. If he gets that number down to 32, just drop it 3%, now he’s swinging at better pitches [and] he’s going to do more damage.”

But while Harper must revert to better plate discipline, the Phillies could also stand to better protect him in the batting order. Manager Rob Thomson is already scribbling possible lineups, crossing them out, and making new ones.

“I’ve got some ideas, but I haven’t talked to the players yet,” he said last month. “I don’t want to talk much more about that. But, yeah, I’ve thought long and hard about it.”

Two-thirds of the way through the offseason, it’s fair to wonder if Dombrowski has provided Thomson with better alternatives than he had last season. With five weeks until spring training, let’s look at the options:

Two weeks into last season, after Harper drew 10 walks in 12 games, Thomson moved Schwarber down in the order to bat third or fourth behind Harper.

It stayed that way for 45 games.

But Harper injured his wrist, and upon returning, Schwarber was firmly in the midst of a 56-homer season that resulted in a runner-up finish in the NL MVP race. Thomson left him in the No. 2 hole, one spot ahead of Harper.

“Schwarber is having, at that point, a career year, and I just didn’t want to mess with it,” Thomson said. “And the fact that Harper was protecting Schwarber, too.”

» READ MORE: Bryce Harper plans to join Kyle Schwarber and play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic

Fair enough. And then there was this: Although Schwarber would seem to represent Secret Service-level protection, Harper saw even a lower rate of strikes (41.7%) while batting behind him.

“It’s actually gotten worse,” Harper noted in May, “which is crazy.”

Long’s theory: When it comes to superstar hitters, lineup protection doesn’t matter much. In Harper’s case, the numbers support that idea. He has seen only 42.7% of pitches in the zone in seven seasons with the Phillies and 42.1% since he arrived in the majors.

Former Cubs manager Joe Maddon once walked Harper 13 times (four intentional) in 19 plate appearances over four games at Wrigley Field in 2016.

“I don’t care where you hit [Shohei] Ohtani, I think they’re going to pitch him the exact same way,” Long said. “They’re scared to death of him. I think Harper’s in that category. You can kind of put him wherever you want, but I do not think pitchers are going to give in to him. I just don’t. I think they’re going to try to be very careful.

“Can we maybe help him out and put somebody [else] behind him? That may be part of the equation as well. But in Bryce’s case, I think it’s more, if this is where it’s been the last six years since he’s been here, then the onus falls on me to make sure that he’s swinging at the right pitches and him to make sure that he’s not expanding. No matter what, he has to control his at-bats.”

The path of least resistance is to put Schwarber back behind Harper, an alignment that Thomson is considering. Thomson prefers to alternate left- and right-handed hitters through the order. But Schwarber’s success against lefties (.300 average in 2024; major-league-record 23 left-on-left homers in 2025) leaves Thomson comfortable with Harper and Schwarber back-to-back.

It might be easier to protect Schwarber. He tends to be more disciplined than Harper (21.5% out-of-the-zone swing rate last season; 22.8% for his career). He strikes out more often than Harper but is less likely to get himself out in front of the Phillies’ middle-of-the-order righty options, such as …

In 2022, the Phillies threw $100 million at Nick Castellanos to supply sock from the right side. Among 179 hitters with at least 1,500 plate appearances in the last four seasons, he ranked 87th in slugging (.426) and 172nd in wins above replacement (1.3).

And now, he’s about to disappear.

Castellanos clashed with Thomson and lost his everyday job last season. All parties agree that a change of scenery is best. The Phillies will trade or release him, likely before spring training. Either way, they will pay all or most of his $20 million salary in the final year of his contract.

» READ MORE: Adolis García could be a steal, or just another Nick Castellanos. Here’s why the Phillies like the gamble.

The Phillies already replaced Castellanos with free-agent right fielder Adolis García, a candidate to bat behind Harper if he hits like he did earlier in his career. From 2021 to ‘23, García slugged .472 with 97 homers, tied for sixth among all right-handed hitters.

But García was available because of the last two seasons. He slugged .397 and hit 44 homers, tied for 28th among all right-handed hitters. His swing-and-miss rate soared. And he got non-tendered by the Rangers.

Maybe García can provide at least a $10 million value at a position that will cost the Phillies roughly $30 million. If so, he’d be viable as right-handed protection for Harper in a batting order that would look something like this:

Bohm emerged in 2023 as the Phillies’ best protection for Harper. He excelled with runners in scoring position, often making teams pay for pitching around Harper, and drove in 97 runs in back-to-back seasons in 2023 and ‘24. He started the All-Star Game in 2024.

The Phillies balked at trade offers for Bohm last offseason, with rival teams suggesting they overvalued a player who hasn’t hit more than 20 homers in a season. Then he got off to a brutally slow start, prompting a move down in the order and the Harper/Schwarber arrangement. Bohm dealt with injuries through the middle of the season and finished as a league-average hitter (102 OPS-plus).

Is he primed to bounce back? Or is he who he is?

“I think he’s much closer to that type of [97-RBI] hitter than he was last year,” Dombrowski said. “All of a sudden you put him, that same guy, fourth or fifth in your lineup, and I think that’s a pretty good addition in itself.”

After the All-Star break, nobody took more at-bats behind Harper than J.T. Realmuto, mostly a function of Bohm’s injuries and Castellanos’ reduced role. But at times over the years, the iron-man catcher reliably protected Harper.

Now, Realmuto and the Phillies are having a staring contest over variations of a multiyear contract, the free-agent catcher seeking a better combination of years and salary. There’s still mutual interest in an agreement, according to major league sources. It remains likelier than not that they will come together.

But what if they don’t?

The Phillies’ contingency plan could set in motion several dominoes. First, they would pivot to a catcher, in free agency or a trade, to pair with Rafael Marchán or Garrett Stubbs. The new catcher would be a downgrade from Realmuto but also cost less than his catcher-record $23.1 million annual salary.

The savings could then be applied to another area of the roster. Maybe an addition to the rotation — Ranger Suárez is still available — or the bullpen?

Or, if Bohm had to be packaged for a catcher, the Phillies could take a run at a free agent, such as Alex Bregman or Bo Bichette, right-handed hitters with power who could slot in behind Harper.

» READ MORE: The Phillies are sticking with a veteran core in 2026. But this time the kids have to play too.

Maybe it will help restore Harper’s elite status.

It can’t hurt. Take it from Maddon.

“I am about [lineup] protection, and I’ll argue that with anybody,” Maddon said. “Regardless of what the stats indicate, if the number of balls out of the zone are the same, I still would put somebody back there [behind him] because I still believe it causes pause with how you’re pitching.

“Maybe you say, ‘If we walk him, we walk him.’ There’s that attitude, also. But if there’s a guy behind him, I’m telling you, you’re not going to want to do it if there’s a real guy.”