Since he first entered the spotlight as a 16-year-old high school baseball standout, Bryce Harper has always played with a sense of fire. Recently, that fire appears to have been reignited.
Harper, who moonlights in the offseason as a TikTok influencer, recently posted a video on the platform of him taking batting practice while wearing a shirt with two simple words on it. Not elite.
At the onset of the offseason, Phillies’ president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski gave his honest assessment of Harper’s performance in 2025 to the media.
“He didn’t have an elite season as he has had in the past,” Dombrowski said. “I guess we only find out if he becomes elite [again] or he continues to be good”
Two months later, the first baseman has turned the comment into fuel.
While the true impact of the comment will not be known until the start of the season, it has sparked a larger question. Now seven years into his 13-year contract, has Harper been an elite player for the Phillies?
When Harper signed the dotted line with the Phillies in 2019, he was doing so as a candidate for the best player in baseball. The 2012 Rookie of the Year, Harper was an All-Star in six of seven seasons and already won a Most Valuable Player award. A fiery spirit and a strong arm from right field, Harper signed with the Phillies determined to add the missing piece of a World Series ring to his mantle.
While that first season in 2019 was the definition of mediocrity as the Phillies ended with a record of 81-81, Harper did everything he could to make the team win. Leading the team in runs scored, RBI, home runs, OPS, and even stolen bases (tied with Scott Kingery), Harper made his $330 million contract look like a slam dunk for Matt Klentak. Over the next two seasons, Harper picked up the pace, leading the Majors in walks during the shortened 2020 season and earning the second MVP nod of his career in 2021.
2022 was full of transitions for Harper and the Phillies. The team fired manager Joe Girardi in June, passing the reins to Rob Thomson. Thomson then led the Phillies to their first playoff berth since 2011, making it to the World Series. Battling multiple injuries over the season, Harper found himself taking the majority of his at-bats as the designated hitter. In only 99 games of work, he hit 18 home runs with an .877 OPS. At the dawn of Red October, Harper stepped things up another level, batting .349 with a 1.160 OPS and six home runs over 17 games, also getting named Most Valuable Player in the NLCS.
A few weeks after the Phillies lost the World Series to the Astros, Harper went under the knife for Tommy John surgery. Though he made a nearly miraculous return in May of 2023, Harper’s repaired elbow was not yet back to full strength, keeping Harper at DH for much of the season. When Harper returned to the field, it was not as a right fielder but a first baseman as the Phillies attempted to keep his elbow intact. At the plate, Harper witnessed a decline in power as he navigated his recovery but led qualifying teammates in batting average and OPS regardless.
The 2024 season saw Harper settle into his new position as a corner infielder, along with a return to his power. Harper hit 30 home runs for the fifth time in his career, ending sixth in the NL MVP race on the year.
The two seasons saw the Phillies continue to make the postseason, losing in the NLCS in 2023 and the NLDS in 2024. Harper continued to push the team as far ahead as he could individually, hitting for a combined mark of .296 over the two postseasons.
That brings us to 2025. A wrist injury took Harper out for most of June. Missing a total of 30 games on the season, Harper circled the .260 batting average mark for most of the season, ending at .261 overall. His OPS dropped to its lowest level since 2016 at .844, despite a similar result in home runs at 27 compared to 2024. His “not elite” season ended with a resounding dud in the postseason as Harper, who seemingly forced the Phillies to advance in years past, failed to produce in the NLDS against the Dodgers, going 3-for-15 on the series.
Looking at the traditional statistics, it is clear Harper experienced a step back in overall efficiency when compared to the previous few seasons. His batting average dipped nearly 30 points from 2024, while his on-base production followed suit. For a player whose offensive value has long been built on a blend of power and elite plate discipline, the margin for error narrowed.
Part of that decline can be traced to availability. Harper’s wrist injury in June, a source of inflammation that pestered him in 2024 as well, likely interrupted both his rhythm and timing at the plate. Wrist injuries, particularly for power hitters, often sap more than just raw strength. They alter swing decisions, bat speed, and a hitter’s willingness to let pitches travel. Even after returning, Harper rarely looked fully locked in for extended stretches, circling league-average batting marks rather than driving sustained surges.
There was also a subtle shift in how Harper was pitched. As the Phillies’ lineup deepened around him, opposing teams became more comfortable challenging Harper in the zone, particularly early in counts. While his home run total remained strong, the damage was more sporadic.
Harper’s underlying quality of contact remained strong, but it no longer separated him from the field the way it had in recent seasons. His hard-hit rate and barrel frequency dropped slightly from previous years, while his expected slugging and expected on-base numbers trailed his past peaks. The swings that once produced sustained pressure across entire series instead arrived in clusters. Still capable of breaking a ballgame wide open, Harper did so less consistently. The ability was still there, but a gap emerged between Harper and the top tier of hitters.
The postseason, rightly or wrongly, cemented the narrative. Harper had built a reputation in Philadelphia as a player who elevated his performance when the lights were brightest. In 2025, that version never arrived. Against the Dodgers in the NLDS, Harper looked human.
In isolation, none of these factors suggests a player in decline. Taken together, they help explain why Dave Dombrowski’s assessment landed where it did. Harper was still productive. He was still feared. But for the first time in his Phillies tenure, he did not feel inevitable.
Though this conversation is primarily focused on Harper’s on-field performance, how he is treated off the field has a lot to say about the respect he still garners on the field.
Leaving America’s capital for its birthplace, Harper made every attempt to ingratiate himself with the culture of the City of Brotherly Love. From his blue-collar-esque exterior to his words, even his relationship with the Phillie Phanatic went so far as tattooing the mascot onto himself, Harper made it clear Philadelphia was his home. Some call it pandering, some call it embracing a city’s culture. Regardless, Philadelphia returned the embrace in kind.
Harper’s performance and his demeanor, long since removed from his “clown question” days, placed him in a position of leadership in the clubhouse. The Phillies have not officially named anyone captain since Michael Jack Schmidt, but if they still did, Harper would be captain today (though Kyle Schwarber would warrant the title as well).
In 2020, a then-pending free agent J.T. Realmuto launched an opposite-field home run during the shortened 2020 season’s “summer camp.” Harper, next up to the plate, shouted out “Sign him!” for an empty Citizens Bank Park to hear. Just as his voice echoed through the corridors of the stadium that day, his voice has echoed to make several acquisitions possible for the Phillies over his tenure.
Even recent events have made it evident just how much respect Harper garners not only in the clubhouse but throughout the League. In July, commissioner Rob Manfred paid a visit to the Phillies’ clubhouse. In a well-documented and high-temperature discussion regarding the future potential of a salary cap. Take a moment to read this excerpt from Jeff Passan’s description of the encounter:
Quiet for the majority of the meeting, Harper, sitting in a chair and holding a bat, eventually grew frustrated and said if MLB were to propose a cap and hold firm to it, players "are not scared to lose 162 games," sources from the meeting told ESPN. Harper stood up, walked toward the middle of the room, faced Manfred, and said: "If you want to speak about that, you can get the f--- out of our clubhouse.”
Few players in the League have the authority to speak for their fellow players like Harper, let alone to speak to the commissioner of baseball with such candor. The weight that Harper carries with him is that of an elite player, the alpha.
So, was Bryce Harper elite in 2025?
The short answer is no. But that does not mean Harper is not still an elite player. He fought a nagging injury, saw his efficiency dip, and failed to show up in the postseason for the first time with the Phillies. These are facts, and they matter. But an elite player is not defined by one season’s stat line let alone one series in October.
Over his seven seasons in Philadelphia, Bryce Harper has redefined the standards for what a top athlete looks like. He commands respect, has embraced the city’s culture, and brought a sense of urgency back into the clubhouse. 2025 was not his year, and yet he was still a cornerstone part of an offense that remained in the top-10 across the League.
Dombrowski’s assessment of Harper’s season was accurate, but also a challenge to Harper. His 40+ years of Major League experience have seen him manage some of the best players in the game, giving him the right insight to light a fire under his marquee first baseman.
The fact alone that a season of Harper’s was defined as “not elite” speaks to the stature that Harper holds. Only an elite player would have a 27-home run season looked at with such judgment. Most Major League players would give anything to have a year as Harper had, and yet to him it was an off year.
The true question now lies in the 2026 season. Can Harper recapture his peak production? That will be up to Harper and whether his bat rebounds and his body remains healthy.
Elite does not disappear overnight. But in Philadelphia, it is never assumed. It must be proven, season after season, swing after swing.
