Phillies taking caution with Bryce Harper’s move to the outfield; Alec Bohm has preplanned day off

As Bryce Harper builds back up as an outfielder for the first time since 2022, the Phillies are remaining cautious with him.

Interim manager Don Mattingly gave Harper a break from right field on Saturday against the Blue Jays, penciling him in the lineup at designated hitter. Kyle Schwarber made his third appearance of the season at first base, while Alec Bohm had the day off. Bryan De La Cruz started in right field.

Mattingly thinks Harper has been fine defensively in a five-game sample in the outfield so far.

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“I think he looks more and more comfortable to me as he’s been out there,” Mattingly said. “The hardest thing for me is just depth perception out there. I’ve actually experienced it going from first, playing it for almost two years, and then asking me to go to left one day, and it didn’t go that well. So the depth perception thing is something that you always work on. The first step, getting angles, things like that.”

Harper made one mistake on Wednesday, failing to immediately back up a ball hit to center field in the 11th inning against the Nationals. Derek Hill crashed into the fence trying to field it and stayed on the ground, while Harper didn’t move in right field until the ball started rolling in his direction.

The delayed reaction allowed CJ Abrams to reach third on a triple. Mattingly said Harper’s lapse was a matter of not having enough reps.

“Just wasn’t in the backing that play up, which is kind of a weird play, dead center in this ballpark. It’s not the one off that wall. But other than that, he’s stayed under control,” Mattingly said.

Harper is still building up his arm, and he made a few strong throws on Friday night against Toronto. Late in games when the Phillies are leading, Mattingly has taken Harper out for a defensive replacement to give him an inning off his feet.

Rest and days at designated hitter are going to be important for keeping Harper, 33, healthy the rest of the season.

“I still think we’re going to have to be careful,” Mattingly said. “It’s a read that kind of goes back into our medical meetings every day, how he’s feeling and how everything’s going. There’s going to be days if he’s more sore, had more running. They’re tracking. We track everything nowadays, so we’re going to know if he’s been on his feet more.”

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The day off for Bohm was preplanned to get Schwarber in the field, Mattingly said, and had nothing to do with his performance on Friday night. With the bases loaded and the Phillies trailing by one run in the ninth, Bohm grounded into a force out at home on the first pitch he saw. After the final out, Bohm was visibly frustrated in the Phillies dugout.

“I trust Alec,” Mattingly said. “I know there’s been a lot of talk about him, and obviously today’s a day where we had a chance last night to do something. But he wasn’t the only guy that didn’t get a hit in the right spot.”

Mattingly said he thinks Saturday could be a good opportunity for Bohm to get a day off, but going forward he is not considering scaling back Bohm’s playing time. Bohm is hitting .225 this season with a .642 OPS.

“I don’t expect to go away from him,” Mattingly said. “He’s been really good around the bag. Over the course of the year, there’s been some ups and downs. There’s been some good sections and some sections that haven’t looked as good, but for the most part, he’s been a guy that’s driven in some big runs for us.

“Reset is not a great word, I don’t think, for this situation. I think it’s more this was a normal day that we were going to do. But I do think the day’s not bad for him from the standpoint of bodywise, and just a day off in this stretch.”

Andrew Painter threw a bullpen session Saturday and remains on track to make his next scheduled start on Monday after exiting his previous outing with hamstring tightness. … Jesús Luzardo (10-5, 3.36 ERA) is scheduled to start Sunday’s series finale against Toronto right-hander Shane Bieber (3-2, 5.11).

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In trading for Luis Arraez at the deadline, the Phillies displaced three-fourths of their infield but left Trea Turner at shortstop. To help make sense of it all, pennant-winning former shortstop and current radio broadcaster Kevin Stocker joined Phillies Extra, The Inquirer's baseball podcast. Watch here.

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