Watch Bryce. Watch Bryce run. Watch Bryce run fast.
"Harper is on the way."- Dusty Baker@Ken_Rosenthal with a Bryce Harper update. https://t.co/nYJzMwvnER
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) September 16, 2017
That is video proof of a big milestone for Bryce Harper that he is running. Sure, he isn’t doing carioca ladder drills, but one step at a time. This is major progress from jogging without full body weight on the Alter-G treadmill machine. You have to walk before you can run.
Our sources also tell us that Bryce is taking indoor batting practice now with no restrictions. That is progress from tee work and soft toss swings from the past week.
The next step for 24-year-old star is several days away where he would participate in some “sim” games with real live pitching progressing to a sim game where he is running the bases.
What this all leads to is the big question, when will Bryce return to play for the Washington Nationals? We are being told by sources that the target date is September 25th in Philadelphia with the most optimistic timing of next weekend in CitiField. That would give Harp a total of 7-to-10 games to get ready for the NLDS and beyond.
In the meantime, Bryce was doing what Bryce does. After the afternoon game yesterday, the Harper’s and their entourage headed to Maryland for the MGM Casino at National Harbor to attend a ribbon cutting event at his favorite custom clothier from Las Vegas — Stitched.
After the Stitched Lifestyle event, the Harper’s headed to Jiffy Lube Live in far away Bristow, Virginia for the Sam Hunt concert and a meet-up with teammates Ryan Zimmerman, Tanner Roark, and their spouses. The distance between those two venues might only be 41 miles, but the drive-time could be as much as 2 hours to travel around the DC beltway and down I-66. Helicopter anyone?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZIGIiWBu6v/?tagged=15ina30tour
A day in the life of Bryce and Kayla Harper, and you know there had to have been a post-concert meal somewhere before the Canelo Alverez fight against Gennady Golovkin in Las Vegas.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZGvr8ABflh/?taken-by=bharper3407
The middleweight fight finished in a draw, and why not a little boxing controversy to finish your day!
“Dusty Baker told us this morning that Harper is on the way,” Ken Rosenthal reported on FOX. “He ran the bases today, he played some long toss. As long as he keeps progressing, he will face some kind of live pitching soon. Most likely, the Nationals will bring up some instructional league pitchers to Washington and Harper will take at-bat after at-bat against them in simulated games.”