Philadelphia Phillies superstar Bryce Harper is firm on where he wants to hit out of next season.
Phillies: Bryce Harper desires to remain at No. 3 in order
Philadelphia Phillies on SI’s Brad Wakai relayed a recent report which shed light on Harper’s sentiments about moving to a different slot in the batting order:
“Harper isn’t interested in batting leadoff (he feels most comfortable in the No. 3 spot),” reported Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Another unearthing from Wakai revealed this:
“Obviously, I’m a three-hole hitter, and I have been, but whenever they’ve told me to hit two or four, I’ve done that in the past. I want to win. So I don’t care what that takes,” he said per Lochlahn Marsh of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Harper will be instrumental to Phillies offense regardless
The two-time National League MVP saw all 550 of his at-bats come at the third slot in the order last season. Harper only has ample experience batting out of other positions like the second and fourth slots, which he’s done in 833 and 772 respective at-bats.
Having him hit third is great for RBI purposes. However, with other elite sluggers like Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and Alec Bohm who all excel at the plate, Philadelphia has several routes they can go to reconfigure their order and make sure they get runners on base early. The Phillies figure to fare well in the slugging department this season, whether Harper remains in the third slot or moves up to leadoff or second.
