Bryce Harper puts on batting practice show, but remains cautious on playoff return

WASHINGTON — The contrast was striking: One moment Sunday evening Bryce Harper was crushing baseballs off the empty seats beyond the right field fence at Nationals Park, into the center field batter’s eye, even into a gaggle of pitchers stretching deep on the outfield grass, sending them scattering like gulls.

The next moment, the famously rambunctious right fielder was evincing caution, still casting doubt over whether he’ll recover from a knee injury in time for the Washington Nationals’ Oct. 6 playoff opener.

That mission picked up steam Sunday, as Harper took batting practice on the field for the first time since Aug. 12, when he tumbled over a slippery first base bag at Nationals Park and suffered a knee injury that appeared gruesome and season-ending.

It was diagnosed, the Nationals said, as a significant left bone bruise, and they did not rule him out for the year.

They still haven’t, yet both team and player also have not committed to a return as he completes a progression to something resembling full health.

Sunday, it was batting practice — loud sounds off his bat filling an empty stadium — and running to first base. Harper had worked in the cage and jogged on the warning track in recent days, though it appears he still has not cut laterally on his knee.

If it happens that Harper’s first at-bat comes when the Chicago Cubs visit Nationals Park for Game 1 of the National League Division Series, well, he’s prepared for that scenario.

“It’s going to take some time to get back and feel good,” he said after his batting practice display. “It takes time, so I’m just trying to do the best I can to get out here, to get ready and see where I’m at.”

As for that Game 1?

“I hope so. That’s definitely in my head,” he said. “It’s what I want to do. It’s where I want to be. It takes time.

“If we play Chicago, I might be facing Jon Lester for my first at-bat in six weeks. That’s a tough task. It’s going to take some time and hopefully, I can get back and get going sooner rather than later.”

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Indeed, Harper’s timetable has some inconveniences. He won’t be back before the minor league season concludes, so a rehab assignment is not in the offing. A stint in instructional league and simulated games against teammates may be the best he can do before that projected at-bat against Lester.

And he still has physical hurdles to pass in the meantime: Lateral movement, cutting on both the basepaths and in the outfield.

Harper was the favorite for his second MVP award in three years when he suffered his injury. His numbers have been frozen: 29 homers, a .326 average, a 1.034 OPS.

If they stay that way through the regular season, Harper would have four more days to gain strength and timing before the playoffs begin.

For all the mind-numbing exercises and physical therapy, he knows there’s only one test that matters.

“Playing in a baseball game. Just trying to get in there, playing the game, feeling good," he says. “As long as I’m healthy. That’s all I want to be.”