Gabe Kapler: ‘Very real chance that Bryce Harper will play 162 games’

Never mind that Bryce Harper has started every game and played all but 12 innings so far this season, or that he lugged a strikeout-filled 2-½-week slump into Wednesday night’s game.

Harper doesn’t want to take a day off, and the Phillies aren’t inclined to give him one.

“There's a very real chance that Bryce will play 162 games this year,” manager Gabe Kapler said before the Phillies wrapped up a two-game interleague series with the Tigers at Citizens Bank Park. “If we discover he needs a blow at some point, it's going to be something that he and I work on together.”

Kapler noted that the Phillies didn’t play Monday and are idle again Thursday. They’re off next Thursday, too, in the middle of a six-game road trip to St. Louis and Kansas City. So, there’s built-in rest in case Harper needs it.

But Kapler doubts there would be a correlation between giving Harper a game off and his inevitable emergence from a 12-for-64, 23-strikeout funk that began on April 13 and includes a five-hit game April 19 in Colorado.

“The first step is I would have to believe that, and I just don’t know if I do,” Kapler said. “I think that great hitters need to hit, great hitters need to be in the batter’s box.

"He’s physically sound. His bat speed is lightning. In batting practice, he’s hitting the ball to the moon. So why [sit him down]? So he can get a day to relax? We just had that and we’ll have another one [Thursday]. So I can’t think of a reason that is compelling enough to take that step.”

Instead, Kapler is content to ride out a rough patch with one of baseball’s biggest stars. It happens to all of them.

Kapler cited Paul Goldschmidt, who went 9-for-82 with one homer and 33 strikeouts from April 28 through May 22 last season and still wound up finishing sixth in the National League MVP voting.

“This is not unusual by any stretch,” Kapler said. “If you look at all great hitters in their times of struggle you’re going to find it’s a tweak here, a mental adjustment there, and they roll. This is what’s going to happen to Bryce Harper. I’m very confident in that.”

All signs point to Odubel Herrera’s returning to the lineup on Sunday.

Herrera has been on the injured list since April 18 because of a right hamstring strain. He has accelerated his conditioning drills over the last few days in addition to taking batting practice and running down fly balls.

Utility infielder Scott Kingery, also dealing with a strained right hamstring, began a running program Wednesday, but his return is not considered imminent.

Reliever David Robertson, sidelined since April 15 with a strained flexor tendon in his right elbow/forearm, hasn’t been cleared to throw because he’s still reporting soreness. “We’re going to keep evaluating him on a daily basis,” Kapler said. … The Phillies saw a 43.8 percent increase in average home attendance in March/April compared with the same point last season, almost triple the next closest team (Pirates, 15.9 percent). They averaged 36,956 fans per game compared with 25,811 per game last April. … After a day off Thursday, right-hander Jerad Eickhoff (1-1, 2.12 ERA) will open a three-game series Friday night against the Nationals. He’ll be opposed by right-hander Jeremy Hellickson (2-0, 5.82).