{"id":54432,"date":"2022-08-24T01:16:15","date_gmt":"2022-08-24T01:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/philadelphia-phillies-star-bryce-harper-homers-in-first-at-bat-of-rehabilitation-assignment\/"},"modified":"2022-08-24T01:16:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T01:16:15","slug":"philadelphia-phillies-star-bryce-harper-homers-in-first-at-bat-of-rehabilitation-assignment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/philadelphia-phillies-star-bryce-harper-homers-in-first-at-bat-of-rehabilitation-assignment\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper homers in first at-bat of rehabilitation assignment"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>ALLENTOWN, Pa.  &#8212; With one big swing, Bryce Harper looked primed to join the Philadelphia Phillies in a pennant race.<\/p>\n<p>Harper homered to right-center field in his first at-bat for the organization&#8217;s Triple-A team Tuesday night as part of his rehabilitation assignment from a broken left thumb.<\/p>\n<p>Harper was the designated hitter and hit second in the lineup for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs for the start of a six-game series against Gwinnett.  He drilled the fifth pitch he saw from Atlanta Braves prospect Jared Shuster high over the wall at Coca-Cola Park in front of what was announced as a sellout crowd of 10,001 fans.<\/p>\n<p>He walked against Shuster in his second at-bat to the boos of the crowd that wanted Harper to take another hefty hack.<\/p>\n<p>Gwinnett had some fun after Harper&#8217;s solo homer cut the Stripers&#8217; lead to 3-1, tweeting &#8220;Phillies prospect Bryce Harper goes deep to cut the Stripers lead 3-1. Admittedly, he looks like one to watch in the future.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline editorial float-r\" data-behavior=\"article_related\">\n<ul>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Harper, who won his second NL MVP award last year, hasn&#8217;t played for the Phillies since he broke his left thumb on June 25. He is expected to play in Lehigh Valley through Saturday and possibly return to the Philadelphia lineup on Monday when the playoff-contending Phillies begin a series at Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>The 29-year-old Harper, who signed a $330 million, 13-year deal with the Phillies in 2019, is hitting .318 with 15 home runs, 48 \u200b\u200bRBIs and a .985 OPS.  Harper had already surrendered his spot in right field earlier this season because of a small tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of his throwing elbow.  He last played the field at Miami on April 16.<\/p>\n<p>The Phillies entered Tuesday in a tie for the final NL wild-card spot.<\/p>\n<p>Harper was a smashing success for the fans that turned out in season-high numbers to catch a glimpse of one of baseball&#8217;s most popular players.<\/p>\n<p>The IronPigs merchandise store and ticket phone lines were buzzing each of the last two days in anticipation of his arrival.  Will he play?  Will jerseys be on sale?  What time do gates open?  One cashier looked out the team store window and noted, &#8220;I&#8217;ve never seen at 5:12 just hundreds of people standing out there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mike Luciano, director of merchandise, faced an early jam when Harper decided to change his uniform number for his minor league stint.  While an attraction, Harper did not want to serve as a distraction for the IronPigs and allowed reliever Jonathan Hennigan to keep his No.  3 while the slugger bumped up one to No.  4.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I ordered a lot of 3s,&#8221; Luciano said.  &#8220;Luckily, the 4s came in.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Harper T-shirts were truly hot off the press.  About 90 minutes before the first pitch, roughly 150 Harper shirts were still as warm as a ballpark hot dog as they quickly shuffled from print to merchandise store racks.  The blue No.  4 shirts sold for $28 and a limited number of customized jerseys went for $110, sales sizzling at a better rate than the usual top sellers, which would be, Luciano said, &#8220;anything with bacon.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You put a bacon strip on a hat, people love it,&#8221; Luciano said.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Philpott, of Allentown, bought two game tickets in the morning and clutched a Harper T-shirt in the store.  He usually attends about 12 IronPigs games a year and just had to snag seats for Tuesday night.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I got here early because my kid was hoping to catch him on BP,&#8221; he said.  &#8220;We saw all the cameras when we came in. It&#8217;s going to be nuts tonight. You don&#8217;t normally see people lined up when there&#8217;s no giveaway this early before the game opens.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Harper skipped hitting on the field but that didn&#8217;t keep fans from hanging over the railing near the IronPigs dugouts in hope of catching a peek at the two-time NL MVP.  TV stations aired live remotes and the press box was full with outlets normally reserved for the Phillies, playing at home down the turnpike against the Cincinnati Reds.<\/p>\n<p>Two hours before gates opened, only 80 tickets remained, most down the right-field line.  The stadium &#8212; home in the past to similar warm-up stints for Pedro Martinez and Chase Utley &#8212; was full on a night that went to the dogs.  Yes, in a nod to a night dedicated to area efforts at dog adoption, Harper skipped the bacon-themed gear for an IronMutts jersey.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ALLENTOWN, Pa. &#8212; With one big swing, Bryce Harper looked primed to join the Philadelphia Phillies in a pennant race. Harper homered to right-center field in his first at-bat for the organization&#8217;s Triple-A team Tuesday night as part of his rehabilitation assignment from a broken left thumb. Harper was the designated hitter and hit second &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/philadelphia-phillies-star-bryce-harper-homers-in-first-at-bat-of-rehabilitation-assignment\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper homers in first at-bat of rehabilitation assignment<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[11281,661,46,2505],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55687,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/bryce-harper-bashing-way-through-phillies-rehab-assignment\/","url_meta":{"origin":54432,"position":0},"title":"Bryce Harper bashing way through Phillies rehab assignment","date":"August 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Bryce Harper has to be happy with his stint at Lehigh Valley thus far. On Wednesday, the Phillies slugger, working his way back from a broken left thumb, gave the Triple-A IronPigs a 6-5 win over the Gwinnett Stripers, thanks to a walk-off two-run double in the ninth inning. On\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Bryce Harper runs the bases after hitting a solo homer against the Gwinnett Stripers in the first inning of a Triple-A baseball game while he begins his rebab assignment at Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs in Allentown, Pa., Tuesday, Aug.  23, 2022. (Steven M. Falk\/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/08\/bryce-harper-rehab-assignment-triple-a.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":54492,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/bryce-harper-homers-in-first-at-bat-of-rehab-assignment-with-ironpigs\/","url_meta":{"origin":54432,"position":1},"title":"Bryce Harper homers in first at-bat of rehab assignment with IronPigs","date":"August 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"He hasn't faced in-game pitching in nearly two months but it took Bryce Harper all of one plate appearance to go deep in his rehab assignment with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Facing left-hander Jared Shuster, the Braves' first-round pick in 2020, Harper got an up-and-in cutter and demolished it to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54897,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/bryce-harper-homers-twice-in-rehab-assignment-and-phillies-teammates-take-notice\/","url_meta":{"origin":54432,"position":2},"title":"Bryce Harper homers twice in rehab assignment and Phillies teammates take notice","date":"August 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Tuesday was a pretty good night for Phillies fans. At Citizens Bank Park, the Phils came from behind twice to ultimately beat the Reds, 7-6, on Nick Maton's walk-off single. Add another dramatic win to the 2022 tally. Meanwhile, at Triple A Lehigh Valley, some guy named Bryce Harper was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57697,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/bryce-harper-returns-to-phillies-lineup-in-style-leads-5th-straight-win\/","url_meta":{"origin":54432,"position":3},"title":"Bryce Harper returns to Phillies lineup in style, leads 5th straight win","date":"August 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Four hours before first pitch, Rhys Hoskins had it all figured out. \"It's a good day to be a Phillie,\" he said. \"Bryce is back. He'll inject some energy into the lineup. Obviously, he's a force and a presence. But that doesn't mean the game we're playing is going to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57013,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/phillies-to-activate-bryce-harper-from-injured-list-on-friday\/","url_meta":{"origin":54432,"position":4},"title":"Phillies To Activate Bryce Harper From Injured List On Friday","date":"August 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Reigning NL MVP Bryce Harper will return to the Phillies' active roster prior to their game with the Pirates on Friday, Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including MLB.com's Todd Zelecki). The initial plan for Harper's minor league rehab assignment planned for activation from the 60-day injured list on Monday,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56419,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/more-bryce-harper-drama-coming-to-citizens-bank-park-this-weekend\/","url_meta":{"origin":54432,"position":5},"title":"More Bryce Harper drama coming to Citizens Bank Park this weekend?","date":"August 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Two games into his minor-league injury rehabilitation assignment, Bryce Harper has two homers, two doubles, a single, two walks and six RBIs. He had a walk-off, two-run double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning Wednesday night to lift the Lehigh Valley IronPigs to a dramatic 6-5\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/a3.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=\/photo\/2022\/0824\/r1052294_1296x729_16-9.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54432"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54432\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}