Ask a baseball person about anything beyond the game at hand and the answer is liable to be something along the lines that he hasn’t, doesn’t, won’t look ahead. That his focus is solely on today.
A little more than three hours before Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park, however, Bryce Harper was willing to peer into the future and address two subjects: The announcement that baseball will once again be an Olympic sport beginning with the 2028 Games in Los Angeles and whether he sees himself as a full-time first baseman going into next season.
The Phillies star, who turned 31 Monday, allowed that this development had been a longtime birthday wish and publicly appealed to Major League Baseball’s power brokers to find a way to allow the big leaguers to participate.
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“I’ll be old at that point, so I don't know if they're going to want me to be on the team, but it's always a dream,” he said. “I mean, I think it's everybody's dream to be in the Olympics.
“I would hope that Major League Baseball -- and I don't know if they ever will – (but) you talk about growing the game, and that's the way you grow it at the highest peak. You let guys that are playing in the league take that break just like in the NHL and see what happens.”
That’s been the sticking point up until now. The commissioner’s office and owners have been understandably reluctant to interrupt the schedule for the amount of time it would take. And to continue playing while some teams are missing their best players would obviously create competitive issues since not all clubs would be equally impacted.
There is even still some residual resistance to the World Baseball Classic even though it takes place during spring training.
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Continued Harper: “I mean, I think it would be really cool. I think it would be a lot of fun. I don't know if they'll ever go for it, but I would love to put USA on my chest and represent (the country) at the highest level. I know the WBC and everybody loves that, and it's great for the game. But it's not the Olympics. That’s not what it's supposed to be. So it would be really cool.”
Phillies manager Rob Thomson played for Team Canada in the 1984 Olympics, which was also held in Los Angeles.
“I love it. I think it should be in the Olympics,” he said. “I come from a town of 2,000 people and had never played in front of more than 500 people in my life. Our first game was against Venezuela in Dodger Stadium and there were 45,000 people there. I don’t even remember the first inning, to tell the truth. I was just as nervous as you could get. It was something I’ll never forget.”
Harper was a third baseman and catcher until he was drafted first overall by the Nationals in 2010 and converted to the outfield. At the end of last season he underwent Tommy John elbow surgery and when he returned on May 2 was limited to designated hitter. But he soon began working out at first and played the position for the first time in his career on July 21.
What happens in 2024, he said, depends on whether or not the team re-signs first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who has missed the entire season with a torn ACL and will become a free agent after the World Series.
“With Rhys possibly coming back, (if he does) I expect him to go back to first base and me to go to the outfield,” he said. “(But) I feel good at first base. Working with (coach Bobby Dickerson) every single day and getting out there every day has been huge.
“We have a really good infield, so I want to help them out as much as I possibly can over there. I want to be as good as I can and I’ve definitely got to continue to grow over there.”
What complicates the Hoskins decision for President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski and general manager Sam Fuld is that even without Harper, the outfield appears to be well-covered with Nick Castellanos in right, Johan Rojas in center and Brandon Marsh in left. Kyle Schwarber can play left if needed and capable back-ups like Cristian Pache, Jake Cave, Weston Wilson, Kody Clemens all made contributions this season.