So do we just start calling Tommy John Bryce Harper surgery now since he dominated the rehab? It’s his now. Via Matt Gelb at The Athletic (with ads), Harper could be a modern day medical miracle and make one of the quickest returns doctors have ever seen:

This is really happening. Harper is rocketing to one of the quickest returns from reconstructive elbow surgery ever. He has a doctor’s appointment scheduled at the beginning of May in Los Angeles when the Phillies are there for the back half of a six-game road trip.

“If we get clearance from the doctor, then we’ll see when he can start DHing,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Thursday. “But it shouldn’t be too far after that.”

It’s possible Harper is in the lineup by the first weekend of May — or soon thereafter — once the Phillies return home from California. As long as the doctor clears him. The Phillies are operating, team sources said, as if this is a plausible scenario.

We’re talking like two weeks from now Dan Baker is over the PA announcing “Now batting. Bryccccccccce Harperrrrrrr!” as Moby plays over the loudspeakers and every one is on their feet. Kind of like this:

I can’t get over how crazy this is. They reconstructed his entire elbow in November and he could be back in five months.  It’s not like he’s pulling a Kobe Bryant and going over to Germany to do some shady blood transfusion thing either. He’s doing this all off of pure will and testicular fortitude. Out in the open for reporters too. While trying to learn a new position in the process. If the guy isn’t already one of your favorite Philadelphia athletes of all time I don’t know what else he has to do. First he lifts the Phils to the World Series with a torn UCL and a fractured thumb. Now he’s dominating the rehab of a surgery that used to end people’s careers. He looked at the timeline of “sometime by the All-Star Break” and thought fuckkkkkk that.

What if he comes out on fire out of the gate and actually makes the All-Star team? Build the statue at that point.