![\"MLB](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/bryce-harper.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHeavy\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Phillies’ manager Rob Thompson confirmed this week that he may move Bryce Harper in the batting order in 2026.<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> are making MLB news this week, as management is openly considering a change that once felt unthinkable in Philadelphia. Bryce Harper might not be the automatic No. 3 hitter in 2026.<\/p>\n Manager Rob Thomson acknowledged this week that he\u2019s actively toying with the idea of flipping Harper and Kyle Schwarber in the batting order, a shift that would move Harper out of the three-hole he\u2019s occupied for most of his career.<\/p>\n Speaking at the team\u2019s Hot Stove media session, Thomson said he already has \u201csome ideas\u201d and made it clear those ideas include moving Harper down \u2014 or at least around \u2014 in the order, Marcus Hayes of the Inquirer reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve got to talk to the players about it,\u201d Thomson said, \u201cbut you could see a change this year, flipping those guys around a little bit.\u201d When he was later asked directly if that change could involve Harper no longer hitting third, Thomson\u2019s answer was simple: yes.\u200b<\/p>\n That\u2019s not just a lineup tweak. It\u2019s the latest ripple from an \u201celite\u201d debate that\u2019s been simmering for months.<\/p>\n MLB News \u2013 Philadelphia Phillies Could Move Bryce Harper in 2026<\/p>\n This story really started back in October, when Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski tried to thread a needle in his postseason press conference and jabbed Harper\u2019s 2025 production in the process.<\/p>\n Dombrowski called Harper a \u201cquality player\u201d but said the slugger didn\u2019t \u201chave an elite season like he has had in the past,\u201d according to MLB<\/a>.com and Newsweek<\/a>. The context was fair \u2014 Harper\u2019s 2025 numbers were down \u2014 but the phrasing landed like a brick.<\/p>\n Harper later told The Athletic he was \u201churt\u201d by the comments and the narrative that followed, which included external speculation that the Phillies might eventually be better off moving on from him. Dombrowski said in November that he and Harper had a \u201cgood conversation<\/a>\u201d and that he believed everything was fine between them, but Harper\u2019s next move suggested the issue wasn\u2019t completely buried.<\/p>\n In December, Harper posted a TikTok video of himself taking swings in a batting cage while wearing a sweatshirt that read \u201cNOT ELITE,\u201d a not-at-all subtle reference to Dombrowski\u2019s October description. Multiple outlets, including On Pattison and Bleacher Report, confirmed the authenticity of the clip and the timing.<\/p>\n So, yes, everyone might be \u201cfine\u201d on paper, but the tension hasn\u2019t exactly vanished.<\/p>\n Harper\u2019s Production Drop is Real<\/p>\n Strip the emotion away, and the baseball piece of this is pretty straightforward. Harper didn\u2019t have a vintage season in 2025 by his own standards.<\/p>\n Across 132 games, Harper hit .261 with a .357 on-base percentage and .487 slugging, giving him an .844 OPS \u2014 his lowest mark since 2016 and more than 50 points below the .911 OPS he carried into 2025 as a career baseline. His OPS+ checked in at 129, also his lowest since 2019.<\/p>\n He still produced: 27 home runs, 75 RBIs, and strong walk rates kept him comfortably above league average. But for a player used to living in the MVP tier, it was clearly a step back.<\/p>\n There\u2019s context, too. Harper dealt with a lingering wrist issue that required an injured-list stint in early June, the same wrist that had bothered him in 2024.<\/p>\n According to MLB.com and The Athletic, he played through recurring discomfort for stretches and saw a career-high share of breaking balls \u2014 roughly 41% of his pitches faced \u2014 as opponents leaned into a game plan built to exploit that vulnerability.<\/p>\n It all adds up to Dombrowski being technically right about the year not being \u201celite,\u201d even if his delivery touched a nerve.<\/p>\n With Harper, 33 years old, coming off a down season by his standards, motivated by World Baseball Classic reps, and clearly aware of how he\u2019s being publicly labeled, the idea of a \u201cHarper move\u201d in 2026 doesn\u2019t necessarily mean a trade or a demotion.<\/p>\n It likely means Thomson giving himself full freedom to slide his superstar up or down the card as performance dictates, feelings aside.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tJustin Carlucci<\/a> brings 13+ years of journalism experience to Heavy. A veteran of multiple industry-leading companies, he has hosted SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio shows and contributed to the New York Post, combining traditional sports and news reporting with expertise in sports betting and fantasy sports. More about Justin Carlucci<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Phillies\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heavy Phillies’ manager Rob Thompson confirmed this week that he may move Bryce Harper in the batting order…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-437315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}