It seems like Philadelphia Phillies star outfielder Bryce Harper was just challenged by a high-end executive within the organization.

Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski was recently asked a myriad of questions after the Phillies were eliminated from the 2025 MLB Playoffs. 

One of those questions was regarding All Star outfielder Bryce Harper, who, by his standards, had a fairly down season.

Batting .261 and hitting 27 homes with 75 RBIs is hardly anything to sneeze at, but that’s not the type of player we’re used to seeing.

"He's still a quality player. He's still an All-Star-caliber player," Dombrowski said. "He didn't have an elite season like he's had in the past. I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or he continues to be good."

Dombrowski is an old school guy, so he’s going to call it like he sees it. However, regardless of whether or not he was right, you run the risk of upsetting your two-time MVP who helped you reach two consecutive NLCS’s and a World Series.

Not only that, he was forced to miss a month of action due to a wrist injury that kept him out during the majority of June.

Dombrowski later continued:

"Can he rise to the next level again? I don't really know that answer. He's the one that will dictate that more than anything else. I don't think he's content with the year that he had. Again, it wasn't a bad year. But when I think of Bryce Harper, you think elite, you think of one of the top-10 players in baseball, and I don't think it fits into that category."

There’s no question that the obvious stats like average and home runs were a step down from what we’re used to seeing, but under the hood, there was a lot more wrong with the picture.

Both his .844 OPS and .457 slugging percentage was the lowest he’s ever had it since 2016, and his .357 on-base percentage was his lowest  since he was 21 years of age.

Conversely, his Baseball Savant page seems to suggest that things didn’t necessarily go his way. His expected batting average was 19 points higher than what his actual average was. Not only that, his xwOBA was actually in the top-nine percent of all of Major League Baseball.

So while Harper’s surface numbers regressed, it was clear that something was holding him back from being the  same Harper we're used to seeing.

Can he return to that level though? That’s a clown question bro.