Bryce Harper Reveals CRAZY Details...SHOCKING Update

We got a pretty shocking report this morning from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic in regards to Bryce Harper and a potential position change last offseason if the situation was right. We're going to get into all of that today on the newest episode of Phillies Digest, but I do want to remind you guys, if you guys have not subscribed to the channel already, please do so. Myself and Sean Bernard are working really hard. Right now, we're getting out over one video a day, and just 23% of our viewers are subscribing. Now that means over 76% of you guys that are watching our videos have not subscribed to the channel. We want to make sure that you guys are getting notified the second that our videos are uploaded because this is the place to be for all Phillies coverage on YouTube. So as far as the report this morning from Ken Rosenthal, he did a big interview with Phillies star first baseman Bryce Harper yesterday down in Clearwater, and we heard a lot from this interview. and probably the biggest thing that stood out was a quote from Bryce about a potential position change last offseason. Harper said this in the article. He said, I talked to the Phillies this offseason about that, just in case a guy was available at first that we needed to have and needed to get. I'd be more than open to it, and as in it, this is Bryce Harper possibly moving back to the outfield. Yes, that was the report, and that was the question that was framed by Ken Rosenthal if a move back to the outfield was possible so once again Harper said I'd be more than open to it he said if we had a guy like that who was going to change our lineup or change the demeanor of our team they like me at first base but I'd go out there to have a guy who was going to play first base and hit 35 or 40 homers when Pete Alonso was on the block still I kind of sat there and was like hey why not when we talked about it I kind of just reiterated to the Phillies and Scott Boras that I'm willing to move out there if it's going to help us. I love playing first base. He then said it's been great, but if it's going to help us win, then I would go back there, and I continue with this in my article for Crossing Broad where you can check it out on our website. But I eventually went on to say that Schwarber has turned into the Phillies full-time DH over the last few seasons, and although he'll play some more outfield this year. That's his spot in the lineup as far as the DH spot. He's a free agent after this season, although there are already reports that the Phillies and Schwarber's camp want to agree on an extension. Max Kepler was only signed to a one-year deal. Nick Castellanos' contract is up after the 2026 season. There are going to be holes in the Phillies' outfield eventually. maybe one of those spots is filled by Harper and this once again is not any sort of guarantee but as far as this quote it's a pretty telling quote and it did jump out to me because obviously yes I think we all know the athlete that Bryce Harper is he obviously started off in baseball as a catcher that's what he was in high school and then once he started to realize he could really hit he was such a an incredible athlete he started playing some more outfield then he obviously got drafted to play in the outfield um and then obviously two years ago Bryce Harper started to make the full-time transition to first base the biggest reason for that at the time and it did make sense was due to Reese Hoskins tearing his ACL in spring training the Phillies had a hole um at the time the best option for Reese's replacement was everyday Cody Clemens back in 2023 so the Phillies knew that they needed to do something uh the sort of tendency in baseball to basically like elongate a guy's career has been to put him at first base over the years we've seen some players sort of make the transition over there it's it's it's it's not as much running as the outfield it's not as much of a wear and tear on your arm obviously I think we know once again the kind of athlete that Bryce Harper is and it has showed sort of over the last few years He was obviously a Gold Glove finalist last year in just his first full season at the position, but it does lead me to believe that maybe Bryce Harper isn't necessarily locked into first base for the rest of his career. Obviously, the name that he threw out there was Pete Alonzo. We all know the extension, or I guess the new contract that Alonzo did get with the Mets in the offseason, but another name will be on the free agent market this coming offseason as far as big first basemen, and that is Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The Blue Jays and Vladdy failed to reach an agreement on an extension before the deadline a few weeks ago. So Vladdy will hit the free agent market after this season. Vladimir Guerrero has basically said that he is not going to agree on a contract during this season. He is going to play out his potentially last year in Toronto and then hit the open market. And, yes, there is a chance that Vladimir Guerrero could get pretty close to probably around $400 million in free agency, depending on how many years. This is an awesome baseball player. He had 166 OPS plus last season, 30 home runs, 103 RBIs with a .396 on base percentage with 72 walks, just under 200 hits at 199 and 616 at bats. with just 96 strikeouts so the strikeout numbers aren't that crazy for the slugger sort of in Vladdy as well but this is where I start to fall back on maybe the Phillies are are sort of taking this with a grain of salt and and maybe they are truly thinking about this for potentially the future um once again for the third time already I think we know how much of an athlete that Bryce Harper is. He is able to play anywhere. He can play anywhere on the field. My biggest take for Harper is I think he could play all nine positions on the field. I think if you gave Bryce Harper a month to learn how to play shortstop, I think he could do it. If you gave him two months to learn how to play third base, I think he could do it. If you needed him to catch, I think he could maybe do it. He is a freak athlete, but this is starting to be a little telling. I think that quote today was big. I think the way Bryce talked about it, he seemed very open to it. It seemed like he was open to it in the offseason. I think we all know that Bryce just wants to win a championship. I don't think Bryce cares how he wins a championship. He wants to have the parade on Broad Street. He's talked about it multiple times. He did an interview today with Sports Radio 94 WIP and said everything about the Eagles parade just looked incredible. And he has been dreaming of that parade as the star of this Phillies team since he's gotten here this was an interesting article today from Phillies Nations and I this did catch my eye a bit this is from Destiny Legardo she said the longtime New York Met is hated in Philadelphia but Alonzo would have been an interesting fit in the lineup as the right-handed cleanup hitter protecting Harper Harper led the league in each of the last two seasons in percentage of pitches seen outside of the strike zone basically that means pitchers don't want to throw the ball to Harper um she went on to say that some of the reasoning behind that is because Harper is one of the best hitters in baseball but other sluggers in the league that are on his level Seymour strikes lineup protection could be part of the issue and signing a right-handed power bat with patience like Alonzo could have alleviated the problem but the Phillies were hesitant to dive headfirst into the deep end of the free agent pool with luxury tax payroll that was already nearing 300 million dollars heading into the offseason. Obviously, they got Max Kepler, Jordan Romano, Joe Ross, and they traded for Jesus Rosado. The Phillies were not connected to Alonzo in the rumor mill at any point during the offseason, and Rosenthal did reiterate that the Phillies never got serious about Alonzo, quote-unquote. This could be something to file away for later, says Legardo. She goes on to say the big free agent next offseason of Vladdy Jr., who we did just talk about. He could cost $400 to over $500 million to sign, and the Phillies, even if they are interested, will probably not be considered one of the favorites to land him heading into the offseason. But if Philadelphia is looking to once again be big spenders in free agency, let it be known that Harper is willing to go back to the outfield to bring in another superstar. Listen, I think a right-handed power bat, a true power bat that hits right-handed behind Bryce Harper would be incredible for this offense I think whether it would be Vlad obviously it can't be Pete Alonso anymore at least for a few years after the extension but a guy like Vlad a guy like Pete Alonso a true right-handed power bat behind Harper I think could do wonders for this offense but the main goal of this video and the main takeaway from this is that Bryce Harper is willing to do anything to win and my biggest takeaway from this is I am not locking Bryce Harper into first base full time for the rest of his career. Once again, I think he wants to do anything to win. And if it's the best move for the Phillies to get another star in here, I think they're going to be sort of thinking about it maybe once we get maybe to the offseason. So with that, I did want to remind you guys one more time. If you guys have not subscribed to the channel already, please do that. 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