CLEARWATER, Fla. -- If you listen closely, you will think that Bryce Harper took things personally.
He insisted on Sunday morning at BayCare Ballpark that he creates his own motivation every offseason. He always works to be great, he said. But this offseason looked and felt different following Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski’s comments in October, when he wondered if Harper would return to “elite” status following a down year.
“I don’t get motivated by that kind of stuff,” Harper said. “It was kind of wild, the whole situation. I think the big thing for me was, you know, when we first met with this organization, it was, ‘Hey, we’re always going to keep things in house, and we expect you to do the same thing.’ When that didn’t happen, it kind of took me for a run a little bit. I don’t know. It’s part of it, I guess. It’s kind of a wild situation, you know, that even happening.
“Obviously, I didn’t have the year that I wanted. Obviously, I didn't have the postseason I wanted. My numbers weren't where they needed to be. I know that. And, you know, I don't need to be motivated to be great in my career or anything else. So that's just not a motivating factor for me. For Dave to come out and say those things, it's kind of wild to me.”
But then Harper, who chatted with Dombrowski in the fall about it, posted a TikTok video of himself in December wearing a black T-shirt with the words “Not Elite” on it.
Why did he wear it?
Was he sending a message?
“They made the shirts for me, and I wore them,” he said. “If they’re going to make them, I’m going to wear them.”
Harper, 33, batted .261 with 27 home runs, 75 RBIs and an .844 OPS in 2025, but he missed almost a month because of inflammation in his right wrist. It was Harper’s lowest OPS since 2016 (.814), and he posted his lowest OPS+ (129) since 2019 (126). But Harper’s OPS still ranked 22nd out of 145 qualified players in baseball, and his expected metrics were mostly better than in 2024, when he batted .285 with 30 homers, 87 RBIs and an .898 OPS.
But Harper saw pitches in the zone only 43 percent of time in the regular season, the fewest out of 532 players (minimum 200 pitches). He saw only 39.1 percent of pitches in the zone in the postseason, 83rd out of 84 players (minimum 50 pitches).
“That’s the stat,” Harper’s agent Scott Boras said in October.
Harper spent most of the season hitting third in the Phillies’ lineup. Phils cleanup hitters posted a combined .720 OPS, which ranked 20th in baseball. It was their lowest ranking out of any spot in the lineup.
Nick Castellanos (50 games), J.T. Realmuto (43), Kyle Schwarber (37), Alec Bohm (26), Max Kepler (3) and Brandon Marsh (3) took turns in the cleanup spot last season.
Bohm or Schwarber are the most likely candidates to be hitting cleanup on Opening Day.
“I think the four spot has a huge impact,” Harper said. “I think the numbers in the four spot weren’t very good last year for our whole team. I think whoever’s in that four spot is gonna have a big job to do, depending on who’s hitting three or who’s hitting two.”
Harper said he didn’t change much this offseason. He hit, he ran, he worked out, like always. Although, he hired a new trainer and employed different health regimens, including blood treatments and red-light therapies.
“I don't really think it's just for baseball,” he said. “But it's just longevity of life. Obviously, I'm into wellness. I'm into holistic things. Yeah, it helps.”
Harper said he enters the spring healthy, including the wrist that put him on the injured list last year.
“I haven't had any pain since Pittsburgh [in June],” Harper said.
Harper will be leaving soon to play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. He is excited about the opportunity.
“Representing your country, there's nothing better,” he said. “I mean, the feeling of putting USA on your chest and playing for something so much bigger than yourself, representing your whole country, there's nothing greater. So, having Aaron Judge hit behind me is going to be a lot of fun as well. That's going to be really cool. I'm really excited to play with him and play with a lot of guys on there. [Alex] Bregman, Bobby Witt. Rubbing shoulders with [Paul] Skenes and [Tarik] Skubal, of course.”
Then Harper will come back and put “Phillies” on his chest again. He is excited about that, too.
“I feel like I'm pretty excited to play,” he said. “My face might not look it a lot of times, but I'm excited to be out there. Obviously, I love playing this game. I love being part of the culture and the group of Philly baseball and things like that. I don't want that to ever not be the notion. Obviously, I don't smile all the time or I don't laugh all the time. But I enjoy playing this game.”