Bryce Harper praises Philadelphia Phillies farm system for 2022 success

ST. LOUIS — Before the Philadelphia Phillies took part in their first postseason game since the 2011 season on Friday, Bryce Harper chose not to look to the past but rather to the future in his praise of what made the Phillies a playoff team in 2022.

Bryce Harper heaps praise on Dave Dombrowski, Philadelphia Phillies farm system for 2022 team success

As Bryson Stott has evolved into the everyday shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies, it has been a highlight of what has been a youth movement in some ways in Philadelphia this season. Bailey Falter, Matt Vierling, and Alec Bohm, all early in their careers, have all made contributions this season for the Phillies.

Harper says all of those contributions can be traced back to the farm system that has been constructed by the Phillies, helping pave the way for the next generation in Philadelphia to come in and have immediate success.

“Without our farm system, I don’t know if we’d be in the spot that we are because it’s the guys that came up and stepped up for us,” Harper said. “We can look back at those two homers (one each by Bohm and Vierling) in Milwaukee (both in the ninth inning off Josh Hader on June 7 in a 3-2 victory). If that doesn’t happen, this might be a different situation for us.”

Philadelphia scheduled Game 2 starter Aaron Nola also said the team’s depth this season has made a difference on the march to the postseason.

“We had some ups and downs this year for guys going down, Harper and Segura going down, that was a big blow for us, but we had young guys step up and that was huge for us,” Nola said. “We got a lot of depth on the bench for our whole team this year. To me, we got more depth than we have in the past, and I think that’s what’s helped us get to this point now.”

Harper praised Philadelphia president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski for what he has done behind the scenes to make sure the farm system was ready to contribute when the time was right.

“You know, just like anybody else, I don’t think anybody was really sure of what we had down there because nobody really talked about it,” Harper said. “Dombrowski came in and kind of revamped it as well, brought in Preston (Mattingly, director of player development) and Brian Barber (scouting director), and bringing the guys in that we really need to be successful down there, and they’re still doing that right now.

“I’m excited to have guys in the minor leagues that are developing well, and developing the right way, and I think Dombrowski does such a great job of evaluating talent and understanding talent and understanding when guys are ready and when they’re not and pushing guys to the best they can because he’s been around a lot of good players and a lot of good farm systems as well.”

Can those young players continue to make a difference for the Philadelphia Phillies in the postseason? It’s one of the things to watch as the Wild Card series begins.