Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper was removed early from Tuesday’s matchup against the Atlanta Braves after he was hit in the elbow by a pitch.
The injury occurred in the bottom of the first inning when a 95 mph fastball from Braves pitcher Spencer Strider drilled Harper, who was immediately in pain. After trying to walk it off, he went down to the ground and didn’t move his right arm. Team medical personnel attended to Harper before escorting him back to the dugout.
Harper was hit on the same arm he had Tommy John surgery on in November 2022 after leading Philadelphia to the 2022 World Series. He missed the first month-plus of the 2023 season before he came back in May, marking the fastest return on record by a MLB who underwent Tommy John surgery (160 days).
He was replaced Tuesday by Edmundo Sosa, who moved to third base the following inning with Alec Bohm moving from third to first base for Harper.
The Phillies said Harper suffered a right elbow contusion and that X-rays for Harper were negative, according to several reports.
‘We’ll have to re-evaluate in the morning, but the X-rays were negative. He was certainly in a lot of pain,’ Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.
It’s currently unknown if Harper will miss any time, but it was a scary sight for a Philadelphia team that is rolling. The Phillies recently were on a nine-game win streak and entering Tuesday, their 34-19 record was the best in baseball. Harper has played a major role in that with a .267 batting average with eight home runs and 33 RBIs on the season.
This story has been updated with new information