Philadelphia Phillies superstar Bryce Harper made his season debut on Tuesday night, just five months after Tommy John surgery. Harper’s quick recovery is impressive, but now he’s now facing another obstacle, MLB’s new pitch clock.
“It’s going to be an adjustment for me,” Harper said, per ESPN.
The seven-time All-Star had a rough night against the Dodgers, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
Per Baseball Savant, Harper ranked 11th last season (20.5 seconds) among 376 hitters in slowest tempo between pitches with the bases empty. This matters with the pitch clock, which features a 15-second timer with the bases empty and a 20-second timer with runners on base.
“Your whole life, your whole career, you’ve always slowed the game down,” Harper said. “I took a long time from the on-deck circle to the batter’s box. And also in between pitches, I’d take a while.”
Harper expressed criticism of the pitch clock last month during an interview on “Sunday Night Baseball.”
“I know a lot of players that want our game back, right? But as of right now, it is what it is,” Harper said.
The times are changing in Major League Baseball, and the pace of play is becoming more rapid. Although Harper is dismayed by the new rules, he also realizes he’ll have to adapt or get left behind. Time waits for no man, even in baseball.
“I just got to figure that out,” Harper said. “Figure out what I want to do, how I want to do it, use my timeouts when I need to and understand the game’s going to be at a quicker pace for the foreseeable future.”
The 30-year-old Harper is a two-time NL MVP for a reason, and the odds are in his favor to master the pitch clock. Even so, there will likely be bumps in the road.
“Is he going to get a violation? Yes, he’s going to get a violation,” hitting coach Kevin Long said, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Just like pretty much every guy has. But he’ll figure it out. He’ll use his timeouts, I’m sure, probably once an at-bat for a while. But I notice a lot of guys are starting to get a feel for that. Just as he’s coming back from an injury and figuring all that out, he’s going to have to figure this out, too.”
The Phillies need Harper to return to MVP perform, as the team is just 15-16 and fourth in the NL East in the early going.
