Bryce Harper misses game with bruised triceps

It hasn’t been the picture-perfect season that many expected from Bryce Harper, and as of Saturday night, he is on the shelf (again) with injury.

Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson told reporters, before Saturday’s game with the Braves, that Harper sustained a bruised triceps as a result of being hit with two separate pitches during Friday’s loss. As a result, Harper was lifted from the lineup and replaced by Denard Span for Saturday’s game.

This isn’t the first instance of injury for Harper this season, as he has only garnered a total of 346 plate appearances in 83 games. While it doesn’t appear that this particular injury will sideline him for very long, Harper is developing a reputation as a guy who gets banged up easily, and this latest instance won’t help that case.

For the year, Harper is hitting a very respectable .263/.363/.502 with 17 home runs. Those numbers would be extremely encouraging for any other 20-year-old (!), but some are shouting about Harper’s season being a disappointment after his grand entrance in 2012. For me, that is purely a case of failed expectations from his team (as Washington is firmly out of the NL East race), and they have less to do with his actual performance.

At any rate, Harper is banged up again, and if the Nationals have any prayer of running down one of the NL Central’s trio (Pirates, Cardinals, Reds) in the Wild Card race, they are going to need him at full strength for the rest of the campaign. It should be considered a small win that Harper was used as a defensive replacement in the 9th inning, and I’d expect to see him in the lineup when Sunday afternoon arrives.