Was there any doubt that Bryce Harper was going to answer the critics after the offseason?
His game-tying home run in the World Baseball Classic final against Venezuela was a pretty telling sign that Harper would be locked in when the first pitch was thrown on Opening Day.
The Phillies’ first baseman got off to a slow start in the first handful of games, going 2-for-20 in the five games played in March. Then April rolled around, and he has been red-hot ever since.
He drilled homers in consecutive games to start the month, finding a swing he was not all that concerned about losing. Since April 6, Harper is slashing .327/.420/.634 with seven homers, 16 total extra-base hits, 19 RBIs and a 17:18 walk-to-strikeout ratio.
His focus this year was limiting his swings on pitches outside the zone. Last season, Harper posted a then-career-high 35.4 percent chase rate. Even with his hot hitting, he is chasing more this year at 36.7 percent.
There is some context, though. Last season, Harper saw the fewest pitches in the zone — 43.3 percent — of the 515 batters who saw at least 250 pitches. This year, he is seeing even fewer in-zone pitches at 42.7 percent.
Still, Harper is doing what he said he wanted to do.
“Hit strikes hard,” Harper said Wednesday. “As I’ve said, I want to stack my days. I’m focused on honing in on the zone and making sure I don’t miss mistakes.”
Harper is making more contact on pitches in the zone than he ever has in his career. This year, he has made contact with 88 percent of the pitches he swings at in the zone, according to FanGraphs. With that, he is finding more barrels than he did last year. His 15.6 percent barrel rate ranks in the top 11 percent of hitters, per Statcast, and is his highest since his 2021 MVP season with the Phils.
That is the balance Harper is trying to strike. He wants to chase less, but when pitchers are in the zone, he wants to do damage.
“I’m less worried about the results — if I fly out, ground out, line out — as long as I hit the ball hard,” Harper said. “I feel good about where I’m at.”
Harper, who broke into the big leagues in 2012, is not someone who builds his at-bats around video, deep analytics or stat-prep sheets. By the book, per se.
Time stood still for a little while, but Harper gets his ninth of the year
And at the World Baseball Classic, he picked up a new drill. Surrounded by other stars, including Aaron Judge and Alex Bregman — the two players he said he has stayed in contact with the most from the tournament — Harper began working with a foam-ball machine.
The machine is about knee-high, as Harper described it, and allows him to see the upshoot of the pitch consistently in the zone. For hitters, the drill can help keep the barrel from dropping while improving swing plane.
Harper has long been a strong low-ball hitter, and those reps — from both the left and right sides to simulate different looks — have become part of the work behind his in-zone focus.
WHEELER’S SWEEPER SPIN
After his 6 1/3-inning outing against the Athletics in Wednesday’s victory, Zack Wheeler was not exactly thrilled with his stuff.
Through three starts after thoracic outlet decompression surgery, though, Wheeler has posted eye-popping metrics: a .155 expected batting average, which would rank second among starters if he qualified, and a 41.7 percent chase rate, which would be the best among starters if he qualified. His fastball velocity averaged 95 mph on Wednesday, right around league average, without a major drop-off.
His sweeper, though, continues to look different than it has in years past.
Through three starts, the pitch is averaging 44 inches of vertical break. From 2023 through last year, it averaged 35.7 inches. It has become even more of a fall-off-the-table pitch.
The spin helps explain why.
Wheeler’s sweeper averaged 2,625 rpm entering this season. This year, it is averaging 2,787 rpm.
Hear from Zack Wheeler after his first start of the 2026 season, helping lead the Phillies to a 8-5 win over the Braves on Saturday night.
Phillies reliever Brad Keller, who also had a thoracic outlet procedure before the 2024 season, has seen a similar spike with his sweeper, though not as dramatic. He pointed to feel, extension and arm space as part of the difference.
“Before you have the surgery, you lose your arm space,” Keller said Wednesday. “You don’t have the same feel out in front, in your extension. That impacts the breaking ball.
After I got the surgery, I felt more loose. You get used to the other feeling, and now you can get your arm out in front in your pitches more.”
That type of arm restriction can certainly play a part in what Wheeler is showing now. Keller’s point was that pitchers can adjust to restricted movement before surgery, then they actually find more success, feeling more free.
Wheeler has generated a lot of soft contact on the sweeper. And despite not having the command or feel exactly where he wants it yet, the pitch is giving the Phillies another encouraging sign.
His secondary pitches are what makes Wheeler, Wheeler.
PHILLIES LOOK FOR SWEEP
The Phils will send out rookie right-hander Andrew Painter as they look for their fifth straight win and a three-game sweep of the Athletics.
Despite a 5.68 ERA, Painter has done a solid job limiting hard contact and walks while producing a lot of chase. He ranks in the top eight percent in out-of-zone swing rate.
Painter worked in and out of trouble in a five-inning outing against the Marlins, allowing three earned runs and escaping two different bases-loaded jams.
The Phils will face Athletics righty JT Ginn, who has been a completely different pitcher away from Sutter Health Park. That has been a common trend among Oakland pitchers outside their home park.
At home, Ginn has a 7.62 ERA. Across four road appearances, that ERA drops to 1.65.
Ginn mainly relies on a sinker, a pitch the Phillies have struggled against this season. But they have also shown much more success against right-handers, and they will be trying to win nine of their last 10 under Don Mattingly.