The Phillies played a day-night doubleheader last Saturday, so there wasn’t a chance for work on the field. There was a three-hour rain delay before Sunday’s game, again preventing Harper from working out. That was followed by a day off Monday.
“There are no boxes to check anymore,” Thomson said. “We just need to get him moving, get him out there and keep getting him ground balls and things like that. We just haven’t been able to get him out (on the field) these last few days.”
The Phillies won’t know if Harper can play first base adequately until he actually plays first base. And that will have to come at the major-league level, in the heat of a playoff run.
“It’s really gotta be game speed,” Thomson said. “And we can’t simulate that here. And we can’t send him out on a rehab assignment, so we’re just going to have to do it on the fly.”
Thomson did say that even three or four games at first base before the trade deadline will be enough to determine whether the Phillies can go forward with Harper there.