Bryce Harper's home run drought has reached a long enough duration for folks who follow the team closely or casually to begin asking about it on a daily basis. It's been nearly a month. Harper last homered in the Phillies' series opener in Atlanta on May 25.
He's had 97 plate appearances since then. Harper experienced a similarly long power outage last summer when he didn't homer in 100 plate appearances from June 10 through September 8, missing two months during that span with a broken thumb.
The Phillies have not hit many home runs as a team. They have 78 on the season, which ranks 20th in baseball. The league average is a home run in 3.0% of plate appearances and the Phils are at 2.8%.
They miss the 30-home run pop from Rhys Hoskins and they've missed Harper's longball production so far this season. He has three in 183 plate appearances.
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The Braves team visiting Philly this week and leading the NL East has hit 50 more home runs than the Phillies.
"I think we will (hit more homers)," manager Rob Thomson said prior to Wednesday's game against the Braves. "Harp hasn't gotten on a streak yet and you know he's going to, history tells you that."
Harper is unconcerned about going 21 games without a homer. It's not as if he's mired in a slump. He's had three straight multi-hit games and is batting .317 with a .391 on-base percentage over his last 15 games. The Phillies have won 12 of them.
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"I feel good," Harper said Tuesday night. "Of course, the power numbers aren't there, but I feel strong, I feel good, my at-bats have been good.
"I can't try to (hit homers) because if I try to do it, then I'm going to punch out and not get on base. I've got to take my walks and keep getting on base, keep having good days. I've never really struggled with power in my career, I can say. That's not me talking great about myself, I just feel like the power will come, those numbers will come. But I can't try to do that. If I try to do that, it's not going to be good."
Harper has crushed right-handed pitching this season — .383/.496/.543 with as many walks as strikeouts — but hasn't hit lefties the way he has for most of his career. He's hit just .177 with a double, a homer, three walks and 21 strikeouts against southpaws. Harper is far from the traditional left-handed slugger who can't hit same-handed pitching. He hit 15 homers off of lefties in his first season as a Phillie and had an .868 OPS against them from 2019-22.
"When we take BP, you see the raw power," Thomson said. "So it's there, and the ball's coming off the bat at the same exit velocity as it normally does. It's just a matter of getting it up in the air. I think it's coming, I really do."
