Bryce Harper enters every season hoping to play well enough that he earns a trip to the All-Star Game. However, the 28-year-old isn't especially upset that he isn't headed to Coors Field for next week's festivities.
While Harper did make it to Phase 2 of fan voting among National League outfielders, he wasn't ultimately selected to be a part of the senior circuit's team. After a five-hit performance against the Chicago Cubs Tuesday, Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia asked Harper if not being a part of the team bothered him at all.
"Nah, I mean, of course, you always want to be an All-Star and when you're not there it's sucks. But for me, I probably wouldn't have gone anyways," Harper said. "I wanted to enjoy my family. I've been dealing with my back, I've been dealing with the shoulder, the wrist, things like that. So I probably would have took a break from it and just tried to enjoy my family and took some down time."
Salisbury followed up by asking Harper if he would have declined to play in the game if he had been selected.
"This year, yeah."
Whether Harper would have gone to the game if the opportunity actually presented itself we'll never know, but it's not uncommon to hear players say that they'd rather have a break during the All-Star Break than be playing. It's even less uncommon for someone who has already played in the All-Star Game six times, and has a Home Run Derby Championship to his name.
It would have been pretty hard to believe a few years ago that Harper wouldn't make an All-Star team in the first three years of a 13-year/$330 million deal, but you have to apply context. If All-Stars were decided at the end of the 2019 season - which honestly, probably makes more sense - Harper would have been an All-Star. In 2020, there wasn't an All-Star Game because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Injuries to his back, wrist, shoulder and face have limited Harper to just 63 of the Phillies 83 games thus far in 2021, but when he's played, the former National League MVP has been excellent. Harper is slashing .282/.386/.529 with 15 home runs, 30 RBIs, 35 walks, a .914 OPS and a 2.2 fWAR in his third season in red pinstripes. Should he have better luck physically in the second half of the season, this may prove to be Harper's best season since joining the Phillies in 2019.
While Harper isn't an All-Star, Zack Wheeler and J.T. Realmuto are, marking the first time since 2013 that the Phillies have had multiple representatives in the exhibition. Wheeler - slated to make his final start of the first half on Wednesday - could very well end up as the starting pitcher for the National League.
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