Jun 5, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Jose Alvarado (46) throws a pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers in the ninth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports
Jose Alvarado won't be back on the active roster for the Phillies until Sunday, but he is back with the team, arriving at the ballpark roughly two hours before first pitch on Friday.
Alvarado left the team Monday for personal reasons, so his quick return has to be viewed in a positive light.
It's still unknown why he had to leave the team, but Rob Thomson said Alvardo will speak to the media on Saturday. He was placed on the restricted list when he left the team. Thomson said he would play catch today and then throw off the mound Saturday and probably be activated in time for Sunday's game.
Yunior Marte, who was recalled Thursday to replace Michael Mercado, is the likely guy to go from the bullpen once Alvardo is activated.
Although Alvarado has been wildly inconsistent for the past couple months, he's still a valuable piece to the Phillies bullpen. He's especially dominant against left-handed hitters. This season, lefties are slashing .131/.185/.246 for a .431 OPS.
That's dominant.
Alvarado has struggled more against righties, but it's mostly because of his wildness. He's given up 21 walks in right-handed plate appearances. Conversely, he's walked just four lefties in 65 plate appearances.
If the Phillies can get Alvarado's mechanics right, he once again can be a lethal threat out of a deep bullpen.
BRYCE BATTLING INJURIES
You may have noticed that Bryce Harper started wearing that same black arm sleeve/brace (it has two straps - one near the wrist and one near the elbow) that he wore last season after coming back from Tommy John surgery.
He started wearing it Monday and hasn't taken it off in-game since.
He even wore it during a session with kids in the Citizens Bank Park wiffle ball field, while out there in a t-shirt and shorts.
It was making some wonder about if something was bothering him and impacting his power.
Our Tim Kelly tried to ask Thomson about it Wednesday afternoon and the manager laughed it off saying he had no idea why Harper was wearing the sleeve/brace.
Bryce Harper with a 2 out double in the third #RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/gFb8vZTcaN
I talked about it on my Phillies podcast Crossed Up this morning.
Turns out we were right.
Todd Zolecki at MLB.com was able to get an exclusive interview with Harper and while Harper reiterated repeatedly that he didn't want to make excuses for his power outage, he did concede that he has been dealing with both wrist and elbow ailments.
"It's not anything crazy, but obviously it's there," Harper told MLB.com.
He said he's been "grinding through" the wrist injury since May. The elbow injury though is more recent.
The good news is, it's not the ligament that he had repaired during the Tommy John surgery. The bad news is, it's in the same area.
"Sometimes you got to play through crap," Harper said.
BOHM DAY-TO-DAY
Alec Bohm was not in the lineup Friday after injuring his hand on a swing in the first inning Thursday.
Thomson said Bohm is dealing with inflammation and soreness in his left hand. X-rays taken Thursday were negative, which was a relief for the Phillies because there was a fear it was a hamate injury, which has befallen may a baseball batter on a swing.
"That was my initial reaction," Thomson said. "But the X-rays didn't reveal structural damage. There is a little inflammation in there so we're just trying to knock it out. We'll try to do treatment during the game and see if he's available by the end of it."
"He's sore right now."
Rob Thomson provides an update on Alec Bohm's left hand. pic.twitter.com/iOkILsd2OW
The reason that a hamate injury is so concerning is it requires surgery and usually a 2-to-3-month recovery.
With Bohm sidelined, Edmundo Sosa made the start at third base.
WALKER TALKS RELIEF
Taijuan Walker spoke to reporters for the first time since being moved to the bullpen from the starting rotation following his dreadful start in a 10-0 loss to Houston on Wednesday.
"I mean, I'm not surprised," said Walker, who had a meeting with Thomson about his role prior to Thursday's game. "I haven't been pitching well. I haven't been doing my job."
Walker isn't sure how hi pitch arsenal will play out of the bullpen, saying he hasn't pitched in relief in a decade.
"Obviously, I'll probably be fastball-heavy," he said. "Maybe Fastball-splitter or fastball-splitter-cutter. I don't know. We'll see. Maybe take some pitches out (of the mix)."
Walker said he's open to doing the weighted ball program all offseason to try and get back to the level he needs to be at to win a job back in the rotation. He admitted that he could have done it a year ago but liked the marginal gains he got from doing it for one month this summer. He said it helped fix the shape of his slider and believes that a full off-season regiment could help get more separation in velocity between the splitter and his fastball. He said he wants to get his fast ball up to 93-94 MPH. It's mostly been 90-91 all season.
