Bryce Harper will be at 100% to start Spring Training

For most Major League players, they have the luxury of being at 100% physically at one point in the Major League season, and that’s spring training. From there, they’ll depreciate either slowly or quickly like a piece of used farm equipment. And whether we’re talking about the tractor on the farm or your team’s star left-fielder, depreciation is an ugly thing.

For the first time in what seems like forever, Bryce Harper is at 100% according to Nationals manager Matt Williams:

“As far as I know, he is full-go for spring training,” Williams said. “We’re going to monitor him, though. We’re going to see how his knee reacts. There’s no way, even in a rehab situation, there’s no way to really simulate a game or the stuff that we do on the field until you do it. That’s why guys go out on rehab and play games, because you just can’t do it. So we’ll monitor him every day. If we see anything that’s bothering him, we’ll modify his program first. And if we’ve got to hold him out a day, we’ll hold him out a day to make sure he’s ready to go. As of right now, he’s full-go.”

That’s great news. The only thing that can hold back Bryce Harper is staying healthy and logging his most important stat: games played. If he plays in around 150 games, you’ll see career numbers from him. With a talent like his, you’re only going to slump for so long until someone makes a mistake. As a fan of baseball and someone who would love to see Harper become the game’s brightest star, we are hoping he finds a way to dial it back, pace himself, and spend the majority of the season in the lineup.

Hopefully this is the last time we ever feel the need to mention ‘Bryce Harper’ and ‘depreciation’ in the same post.