By Sam Bush
Phils outfielder Bryce Harper has eased himself into spring training, at first DH-ing and only this week playing right field.
It has been assumed that is because he had back issues last season, and manager Joe Girardi showed everyone on Zoom how he has altered his throwing motion.
“He’s throwing like this,” Girardi said into the camera, “But what happens when he does that (shifting his hands-feet into a closed stance), is he kind of wrenches his back. But he’s worked really, really hard on it, and so far, so good.
“I never really knew he threw that much across his body. But our staff that sees him every single day, they had noticed it.”
“I’d been doing it 18 or 19 years and nobody really caught it,” Harper said. He estimated he’d been doing that since he switched from catcher to outfielder, shortly after he was drafted by the Washington Nationals in 2010.
“It’s being able to kind of reteach myself to throw properly and not put too much stress on my shoulder, my elbow, my lower back and my legs,” Harper said. “I did that pretty much all offseason and carried it into spring training. I’m feeling strong, feeling good and I just need to watch myself on certain things when I am out there so that I don’t put stress in the bad areas of my body.”
