PHILADELPHIA — Minutes into batting practice Friday afternoon — as life without Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber began — Nick Castellanos borrowed a trainer’s fungo bat. He stood in center field, with a screen protecting him, and began tossing pitches to his teammates. The Philadelphia Phillies will be tested for at least 10 days. They’ve rallied around this machine they’ve created; there’s a sense that everyone here has a certain aura.
Castellanos, then a designated hitter and not an outfielder for a night, had a lighter approach.
“If me hitting fungoes out there makes someone laugh and allows them to work at the same time,” Castellanos said, “that’s positive.”
It will be difficult. The Phillies aren’t chasing anyone. It’s a different kind of pressure trying to maintain the best pace in baseball while being compromised. Harper, sidelined by a slight left hamstring strain, is the star of stars. Schwarber, who is suffering from a slight groin strain, is the soul of the team. Both avoided significant injury and could return in two weeks.
“Obviously,” Harper said, “I think it could probably be worse, right?”
Harper’s teammates echoed Harper’s sentiments. Their task: Maintain the level that a veteran group has created and keep going. Or, in Harper’s words: “Be cowboys and play the game.” It’s a bit Pollyannaish, but the Phillies have embodied that spirit for half the season. Now they’ll have to do it with Bryson Stott leading off the bat, Brandon Marsh as a relief hitter and a group of platoons all over the field. It’s a challenge.
“Did I go home and sit there and think, ‘This is the end of the world?’ No,” Castellanos said. “Am I worried? Did I wake up and think, ‘Man, I wonder what the MRI results are?’ For sure. Was that the first question I asked when I got here? For sure. But is my day going to change, whether it’s a freshman or a senior? No.”
A few people’s days have been altered by injuries. Kody Clemens and Johan Rojas flew in Friday afternoon from North Carolina and arrived in the majors to see their names in the starting lineup Friday night. Clemens will be the first baseman most of the time. Rojas, after 10 days in the minors, is back in center field.
Johan Rojas has made 55 starts in center field for the Phillies this season. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
“If he’s here, he’ll play most of the time,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.
Rojas generated a significant run in Friday’s 2-0 win over the Miami Marlins with his legs. He led off the eighth inning with a double. He went to third on a wild pitch, then scored on a sacrifice fly.
The Phillies were happy with his work in the minors.
“Everything we wanted him to do,” Thomson said. “Seeing pitches, batting, using the pitch. Using the fastball with the bunts. He cut the swing. He did all that. So he proved to us that he has the skills to be able to do that and the physical ability to do it. Hopefully that continues here.”
The Phillies have won 25 straight games in which their starter has gone seven innings. Cristopher Sánchez improved that by throwing a 101-pitch shutout. They will rely on pitching and defense as the lineup is depleted. Thomson will take more risks; the Phillies attempted three steals at second base Friday with two outs. Harper, Schwarber and JT Realmuto, still recovering from knee surgery, have accounted for 45 percent of the club’s home runs this season.
“I think in the near future,” Thomson said, “we may have to create some things.”
Thomson said there is a “good chance” Harper and Schwarber will return before the All-Star break, which begins July 15. They are eligible to return July 9. The Phillies begin a series against the Los Angeles Dodgers that night. They have three against the Oakland Athletics after that.
It’s guaranteed: Neither Harper nor Schwarber will be on the field for next weekend’s anticipated series against the second-place Atlanta Braves. Both players, according to team sources, had objected to being placed on the IL so they could be available for this Braves series. The Phillies would have played short for a week. Instead, they opted for a more conservative path.
“I never really set a timeline or anything like that,” Harper said. “So obviously, you know I’m going to try to come back and get my body intact the best I can. The best way I know how. The quickest way I can.”
Harper is a contender for the National League MVP award. He doesn’t want to miss the action. Thomson compared his hamstring injury to Marsh’s. He missed 12 days, including two days of minor league rehab. Harper won’t go to the minor leagues for rehab. So the 10-day minimum is possible.
The Phillies are trying to strike a delicate balance. They want to win as many games as possible. They also know that nothing matters except what happens in October. That’s why Trea Turner, who has been medically cleared and is considered 100 percent healthy by the team, has seemed tentative on the bases since returning from a six-week hamstring injury.
“I think he’s smart the way he runs,” Thomson said. “When he needs to step on the gas, he does.”
The team followed the same thinking with JT Realmuto, who could have played despite a small tear in his right meniscus but had knee surgery earlier this month to repair it now. Realmuto is still looking to return shortly after the All-Star break.
That means that until then, the Phillies need contributions from others. Castellanos, who has underperformed, is one of them. The Phillies lost three veteran infield leaders. He can change the narrative of his season by delivering when the Phillies need him – on and off the field.
“I don’t think just because circumstances suddenly change that I have to go get more stuff,” Castellanos said. “I think I did a good job of staying consistent and keeping a level head. I don’t get upset when things don’t go the way I want them to. I’m not too enthusiastic when we’re at full throttle. So for me, all I do is keep running my race. And, obviously, if anyone has any questions, they always know I’ll answer them directly. »
The Phillies are confident the level they’ve created in the locker room is real. Call-ups know the expectations when they arrive. Thomson is transparent with them about roles and upcoming roster decisions. Schwarber is an extension of the manager in the locker room. Schwarber and Harper will travel with the team next week to Chicago and Atlanta. Realmuto is expected to join them.
They will be there only in a support capacity. Any talk the Phillies make about this thing will be tested.
“It speaks to the depth of what we have,” Castellanos said. “And then we have a pretty good winning culture here where everybody is focused on the big picture. I just think that creates a recipe for success.”
(Top photo of Nick Castellanos and Bryson Stott: Nic Antaya/Getty Images)