Washington Nationals GM Mike Rizzo told reporters on Sunday morning that Bryce Harper will play again in 2017. The Nationals’ star right fielder was diagnosed with a deep bone bruise on the inside of his left knee and placed on the 10-day DL, and while the team will be careful with him, he is expected to return in 2017.
Bryce Harper injury is a ‘significant’ bone bruise, and he should play again in 2017
The news is close to the best possible for the Nationals star after a scary injury.
Michael Owens-USA TODAY Sports
The news is perhaps the best possible for the Nationals after Harper’s injury on Saturday night, when his foot slipped off a wet first base as he was trying to beat out an infield single, and it slid awkwardly onto the infield directly below.
Warning: I’m pretty much done watching this, and you should be too. Just in case, though ...
It was easy to assume that Harper was gone for the season, and it was just as easy to start worrying about when he would be back in 2018. That’s before remembering how an early knee injury can affect a player’s explosiveness for the rest of his career. Forget the part where the Nationals haven’t even won a postseason series since 1981, when they were the Expos, and how losing Harper was going to make that a much more difficult hill to climb.
Instead: It’s a bone bruise, but all of his ligaments are intact. He’ll play again when he’s ready, and it’s likely that he’ll get some at-bats to tune up before the postseason. The injury looked absolutely abominable, but it was downgraded to significant. The Nationals will take that.
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