Phillies’ Bryce Harper hasn’t hit a home run in a month, but he’s not worried

A month after his last relaxing trip to the bases, Bryce Harper isn’t taking much for granted anymore.

But Harper hit the ball hard — 96.8 mph off the bat, according to Statcast — and high — 32-degree launch angle — in the seventh inning of the Phillies’ 10-1 loss Sunday at Miami, so he took a swing at home plate to follow the arc as the ball soared toward the right-field stands.

And then came the sound from the top of the wall.

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“Unbelievable,” said manager Rob Thomson. “He can’t buy one.”

The ball would indeed have been out of 16 of the 30 stadiums, including Citizens Bank Park. Harper instead narrowly beat Marlins right fielder Jesús Sánchez’s throw to second base and doubled, extending his homerless streak to 25 games and 108 plate appearances.

It is the second-longest drought of his career.

Is this also a cause for concern?

According to Harper, no.

“Of course there’s going to be home runs,” he said after Sunday’s game. “I know it’s been a while. But I’ve had some good swings and some good results. I just have to keep going.”

Harper is a perfectionist, often harder on himself than any critic. When he has a blackout, there’s usually an explanation. Last season, for example, his 38-game, 164-plate appearance dry spell between homers coincided with his return from Tommy John elbow surgery without spring training or a minor-league assignment as a tune-up.

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This year, Harper is playing with a sore wrist and irritation in his right elbow, nagging issues he told MLB.com about two weeks ago. He said his wrist has been feeling better lately; the pain in his elbow, which he said has nothing to do with his surgically reconstructed ligament, has been intermittent.

Perhaps the injuries have chipped away at Harper’s power. Though he’s no longer hitting the ball out of the yard, he’s still hitting it hard. Since the All-Star break, a period that includes a 2-for-38 dip, he ranks third among Phillies regulars in average exit velocity (91 mph) and second in hard-hit rate (48.6%).

Harper is also getting hits. After going 1-for-12 with six strikeouts in a three-game series in Atlanta last month, he was 22-for-59 (.373) with nine doubles, six RBIs, six walks, nine strikeouts and a .973 OPS in 16 games leading up to Monday night at home against the Rays. Overall, he is hitting .285 with 36 doubles, 26 homers and an .894 OPS.

Harper is certainly barreling fewer balls, a quality of contact based on an ideal combination of launch angle and exit velocity. Before the break, 12.3% of his batted balls were barreled; since then, that number has dropped to 4.9%.

And there are times, usually after swings and misses, when Harper looks downright uncomfortable at the plate. That happened last week during a swing in Toronto. Then, in the first inning Sunday, he winced after taking an awkward half-swing at a low-and-away changeup by Marlins starter Edward Cabrera.

“I’m going to hit and miss and it’s going to hurt,” Harper said. “You’ll probably see it the rest of the year. Just one of those things. Get it healthy in the offseason. You’ll probably see it a couple more times before the end of the year.”

Thomson said: “He just gets those stings every now and then. He’s good.”

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The Phillies are counting on Harper to speak up when he needs rest. He also places great trust in head coach Paul Buchheit, who oversaw his record-breaking 160-day comeback from Tommy John surgery. And Harper said he’s been told he can’t damage his wrist or elbow by playing every day.

Based on his experiences with aches and pains, Harper doesn’t think a day off would help either. So, he’s started 46 of 47 games since the All-Star break, and has played all but 10 innings in those games. Except for Sunday, when he was the designated hitter, he’s stayed at first base.

And that’s expected to remain the case until the Phillies win their first NL East title since 2011.

Thomson has even talked about the importance of getting a bye in the best-of-three wild-card series and finishing with the best record in baseball to secure home-field advantage in the playoffs.

But there is one thing that is more important to him than all other things.

“It’s about health,” Thomson said. “Any kind of pain or discomfort, the red flag really goes up at this time of year and you try to stop it. So health is what I’m most concerned about.

“And then when we get down to the last couple of games, there are certain things I look at stat-wise for each individual player. A player can hit .300 or get 100 RBI. Whatever that special number is. I look at that too.”

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Still, it will undoubtedly be more important to ease off the gas a bit in the final week of the season so he can be fit for the play-offs than it is to achieve statistical milestones for Harper.

“This division is far from over,” Harper said. “We’ve got two good teams (the Braves and the Mets) behind us. We’re going to play the Mets a couple of times. We’ve got to keep going. We’ve just got to keep going, keep grinding.

“Maybe once we get there, hopefully we get a few days (off). But obviously we want to win this division, we want to tick that main objective off of ours. Once we get there, we’ll see.”