Adam Kilgore has a story about Bryce Harper and the way he takes care of his body. His only apparent vice: ice cream and occasional Starbucks drinks. But otherwise, his body is a temple. That goes for even the occasional beer now that he’s 21. It even goes for certain drugs and treatments that are commonplace and accepted in baseball.
Last year it was suggested that he take cortisone to deal with his knee injury. He didn’t want to and put it off. Eventually he did. But:Looking back, Harper regrets taking the cortisone. He found the effects fleeting and the risk unworthy. He plans to never use cortisone again.
“I don’t think it really changed me,” Harper said. “I was still hurt. It gave me a boost for a week, where I felt, ‘Hey, I feel good.’ But then a couple days later, it was like, ‘Ack, this sucks.’ I’ll probably never do that again. I don’t like putting that stuff in my body. I don’t want to. I’m just not a big fan of it.”
He says he should have had the surgery he had in the offseason as soon as the injury happened. He goes on to talk about things relating to playing through pain, which sound like they contrast a bit with what you usually hear in baseball about playing through pain (you should do it) vs. playing through injury (you should not).
Obviously you’d rather have a guy erring on the side Harper is erring on -- as opposed to erring on the side of excess -- when it comes to junk food, drink and performance-enhancing drugs. How many guys aren’t at their best because they’re playing with hangovers or lugging around extra weight? But that Harper’s aim to keep his system pure might come into conflict with the team’s medical advice is potentially troublesome.