Only Dave Dombrowski truly knows how he anticipated his surprising end-of-season comments about Bryce Harper would be perceived by Harper.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Maybe the Phillies\u2019 president of baseball operations was just being honest about some decline in Harper\u2019s production \u2013 or maybe he was expected that his prideful superstar would respond with extra motivation.<\/p>\n
If the latter is the case, Dombrowski might just be a motivational genius.<\/p>\n
Harper, on his TikTok account, recently posted a video of him in the batting cage, getting in some work. He can be seen wearing a black T shirt that says \u201cNot Elite\u201d across the chest<\/a> \u2013 an obvious reference to Dombrowski\u2019s postseason comments in which he questioned whether Harper \u201cbecomes elite\u201d again after a good but not spectacular 2025 season.<\/p>\n For those not on TikTok, courtesy of NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cNot elite\u201d<\/p>\n Phillies superstar Bryce Harper posted a video working out with a shirt that says \u201cNot Elite\u201d<\/p>\n Phils President Dave Dombrowski said that he did not know if Bryce Harper was elite anymore. Bryce has an edge! <\/p>\n Dave Dombrowski said he does not know if Bryce Harper can\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/6YbDMRa7RS<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) December 27, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Harper doesn\u2019t say anything in the video, which only has music playing in the background as he takes swings off a machine inside a cage. But perhaps the shirt does all the talking.<\/p>\n If you need a refresher, Dombrowski was stunningly honest in his assessment of Harper during his press conferences after the Phillies had been eliminated by the Dodgers in the National League Division Series.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said Harper is still a \u201cquality player\u201d and still an \u201cAll Star-caliber player\u201d but added that Harper \u201cdidn\u2019t have an elite season like he has had in the past.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or he continues to be good,\u201d Dombrowski added, before drawing a strange comparison between Harper and Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, whose offensive production has slipped in the past two years as Freeman has entered his late 30s.<\/p>\n \u201cIs he elite like he was before? Probably not to the same extent,\u201d Dombrowski said about Freeman. \u201cFreddie is a tremendous player, and that, to me, is Bryce. Can he rise to the next level again? I don\u2019t really know that answer. He\u2019s the one that will dictate that more than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n Harper, not surprisingly, was reportedly “pissed off” by Dombrowski\u2019s <\/a>scouting report on him.<\/p>\n Harper, who has battled injuries and not played more than 145 games in any of his past four seasons, missed some time with a right wrist injury in June that has also bothered him in the past. He played 132 games in 2025 with 580 at-bats, finishing with 27 homers and 75 RBIs. His 3.1 WAR was his lowest as a Phillie in any season that he\u2019s played at least 100 games.<\/p>\n Harper told The Athletic he was \u201churt<\/a>\u201d by Dombrowski\u2019s comments, but at MLB’s GM meetings in November, Dombrowski told reporters that they had talked it out and the conversation \u201cwent well<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, Harper has always been outspoken and prideful, and the slogan on his T-shirt in that TikTok video shows that Dombrowski’s comments are still on his mind. He has carried them with him into the batting cages this offseason.<\/p>\n Which could be a good thing \u2013 and proof that Dombrowski\u2019s motivational tactic worked, if that\u2019s what Dombrowski was planning all along.<\/p>\n SIGN UP HERE<\/a> to receive PhillyVoice’s Sports newsletters.<\/p>\n Follow Geoff on Twitter\/X: @geoffpmosher<\/a><\/p>\n Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports<\/a><\/p>\n