Bryce Harper Says He Should Have Been Placed on DL Earlier
By Josh Hill
The Washington Nationals are trying to recapture the magic they had last season when they made the postseason for the first time since the 1930s. But while they’re trying their hardest, injuries have been devastating to teams trying to do what Washington is and losing Bryce Harper is not something management was looking forward to.
But while Harper was placed on the DL last Sunday, he told reporters in Atlanta that it should have happened a month ago when his injuries were just starting to pile up.
“Of course,” Harper said, via USA Today. “But I didn’t want to go on. I thought hopefully my body could have got past it.”
Harper was placed on the DL due to his injuries just becoming too much of a detriment to his play, and it wasn’t one single injury that caused Harper to be sidelined. That’s a troubling thing when you consider how important Harper has become to this Nationals team. Unlike Curtis Granderson and others on the DL due to single injuries, Harper is being sidelined because he body just broke down under the aggressive style of play he likes.
Manager Davy Johnson said that it was Harper’s decision to play through the injuries he had and the young outfielder wasn’t forced to play.
“He felt good enough and he wanted to play, and he knows his body better than anybody,” manager Davey Johnson told news reporters.
The irony in Harper’s injuries is that he sustained most of them by playing through previous injuries due to the fact that other of his teammates already had injuries keeping them out of the lineup. Now that he’s on the DL, Harper will have time to heal and that’s something the Nationals need if they’re serious about making it back to the postseason again this year.