Don Mattingly could give Bryce Harper’s career a boost with the Phillies. Maybe Harper can reciprocate.
The Hitman (Mattingly) has never won a World Series. The Showman (Harper) might be able to help him with that.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — For 30 minutes Wednesday, on the half-field adjacent to the Phillies’ clubhouse, Larry Bowa flipped baseballs to Bobby Dickerson, who hit one-hoppers and choppers and line drives at Bryce Harper.
Over and over. Again and again.
Ninety feet from Harper, a nine-time Gold Glove-winning first baseman and former captain of the Yankees stood with a glove on his right hand and a paper folded lengthwise in his back pocket. He didn’t say much. Mostly, he observed.
Then, after the drill, Don Mattingly conferred with Harper.
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The Hitman and the Showman.
Imagine being a fly on the wall for that.
“I mean, it’s Donnie Baseball,” Harper said, smiling. “I grew up a Yankee fan, so knowing he played first base in the Bronx and had a great, storied career in the Bronx and was one of the best first basemen to ever do it, I have such a respect for him and the way he went about it.”
The admiration is mutual.
“He’s going on his 15th year, and I’m like, ‘Wow,’” Mattingly said. “I had a decent career, but I don’t know if I really can talk about some of the things that he can do. Because he can do things that, I think he’s kind of that Barry Bonds-type guy. It’s different.”
OK, let’s move beyond the pleasantries — and Mattingly’s modesty about a Hall of Fame-worthy playing career in New York — and get to what Mattingly and Harper can do for each other.
The Phillies didn’t hire Mattingly to be their bench coach because of the effect he could have on any one player. But they do believe he will bring a different form of credibility to a coaching staff that is well-regarded within the sport but light on major league playing experience.
Harper has solid relationships with manager Rob Thomson and especially hitting coach Kevin Long and Dickerson, the infield coach who slings grounders with a fungo bat and a roux of encouragement and trash talk through a Mississippi drawl. All are good at their jobs. None played a day in the majors.
But Mattingly was the face of baseball back when baseball could still call itself the national pastime. A word from him surely resonates differently with Harper, among the biggest stars in the sport for a decade and a half.
“We have such a good staff, and to be able to bring him in and be part of that, he’s just going to make us that much better,” Harper said. “Being able to have a guy on the staff — and no disrespect to anybody — that has done it at the highest of levels, it’s so good to be able to bounce stuff off of him."
Two weeks into camp, Mattingly said he’s still getting a feel for everyone, including Harper. He isn’t the hitting coach or the infield instructor. Long and Dickerson have those areas covered. But he’s a fresh set of eyes on a staff that has been together since Thomson took over as manager in 2022.
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And after two weeks of watching pitcher fielding practice, live batting practice, and baserunning drills, peeking on hitters in the cage, and offering feedback to Thomson and the coaches, Mattingly has a few observations.
“I like the way guys work here,” he said. “It’s concentrated when they’re in the cage, and the work’s been good on the field for pitchers. It’s not like you’re coming in here to a 96-win team and try to say, ‘You guys should be doing this, this, or this.’ It’s a really good club.
“You’re just trying to find the details of how do you get a little bit better?”
Marginal improvements could make the difference between the Phillies losing three games by a total of four runs to the Dodgers in the divisional round and advancing to the NL Championship Series.
In the case of Harper, who will play this season at age 33, Mattingly’s influence could help extend his peak beyond his mid-30s.
Harper was still in diapers when Mattingly retired in 1995. But as a baseball obsessive with an appreciation for the sport’s past, Harper has studied highlights — “ESPN Century, all that kind of stuff,” he said — from Mattingly’s career.
“The little crouched-down stance,” Harper said. “Bat-to-ball skills were unbelievable. The short porch [in right field at Yankee Stadium] was really good for him. But just a doubles machine that knew how to hit.“
Mattingly hit it off with star infielder Bo Bichette in his last job as bench coach of the Blue Jays. Last season, Bichette batted .311 with 44 doubles, 18 homers, and a 129 OPS-plus.
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“I think they really came together, and you saw Bo have the great year that he had,” Harper said. “Probably learned a lot of stuff from Donnie and what he does. It’s no coincidence.
“And I love being coached. I don’t care where I’m at or how old I am. I love being coached at the highest level by guys like him because just an ounce of information from him could change the dynamic of somebody’s career. I think everybody should have an open mind and open ears to him.”
But Mattingly is chasing something, too. A year after he retired from playing, the Yankees began their run of four World Series championships in five years. He managed the Dodgers before they became a dynasty. The Blue Jays just lost in Game 7 of the World Series.
After 14 seasons as a player, 12 as a manager, and 10 as a coach, Mattingly is still aiming to win a World Series.
Maybe Harper can help with that.
They’re still getting to know each other. Mattingly’s early observations include Harper’s attention to detail in the batting cage and solid footwork around first base. Harper will leave camp Saturday to join Team USA for the World Baseball Classic. Upon his return, the work with Mattingly will continue.
“He’s a different animal than almost anybody else as far as, he’s been here for a long time, still in great shape, still big-time bat speed,” Mattingly said. “He’s a guy that has a chance to win a Gold Glove, in my mind. I’ve had different first basemen, and he’s as good as any.
“Sometimes I think guys like that, you start to take for granted how good they are. And that’s what I think about with him. That doesn’t mean you don’t try to get better in different areas. But he’s going to have a pile of numbers there that, as he gets toward the end of his career, people are going to be going, ‘Holy [bleep], this guy’s been incredible.’”
A mid-career boost from Donnie Baseball can’t hurt.