Fantasy Baseball Weekend Recap: The latest on Bryce Harper plus weekend standouts, waiver targets, and more

Bryce Harper might be back for the Phillies in May. And not May 31, or something. He might be back in early May.

Harper, who is working his way back from Tommy John surgery last November, is expected to see Dr. Neal ElAttrache "around the first of May" and could be cleared to return to action around then. And, as Phillies manager Rob Thomson told reporters in recent days, "It shouldn't be too far after that."

That would be a pretty remarkable return for Harper, who was initially expected to be out until the All-Star break. However, he's been ahead of schedule at pretty much every step of the way, and at this point seems to be right around two months ahead of schedule. That doesn't mean he'll definitely be cleared to play May 1, and even if he does, he'll likely be limited to DH duties for a while after that. However, Harper has been throwing recently and is working on learning first base to give him another path to making an impact for the Phillies.

And for Fantasy managers who took a chance on him in drafts. Harper still has a few hurdles to clear, and it's always possible that he'll struggle upon his return to the lineup, especially if he doesn't have a minor-league rehab assignment to get up to speed, as sounds likely. But still, we're talking about a likely second-round pick in most Fantasy leagues when healthy, a guy who hit .286/.364/.514 with 18 homers and 11 steals in just 99 games last season despite dealing with multiple injuries.

Harper's progress so far is just about a best-case scenario for Fantasy players. He'll likely be less aggressive on the base paths than he might otherwise be, which is one downside he acknowledged in recent days, but even if all Harper does is hit similar to how he did last season, that's a pretty awesome player, a must-start option in all Fantasy leagues. Maybe he struggles for a bit and isn't quite the same guy we've come to expect, but I think it makes sense to bet on an elite player like Harper to perform well enough to justify a spot in your lineup, at least.

We're still a week or so away from knowing Harper's timetable for sure, but that was certainly one of the biggest news items to come out this weekend in baseball. But it certainly wasn't the only thing Fantasy Baseball players need to know about. We'll start today's recap with some quick thoughts on a couple of waiver-wire pitchers who look like potential must-adds this weekend:

No, not that Logan Allen, SP, Guardians. This one is a left-handed pitching prospect who made his debut against the Marlins on Sunday and dazzled. By modern standards, Allen is practically a soft-tosser, averaging 92.0 mph with his fastball in his debut, however he racked up nine whiffs with the pitch thanks to a deceptive delivery that reminds me quite a bit of Josh Hader:

there's a little Josh Hader in his delivery that could make him especially tough to pick up the first time through the league. https://t.co/u6NqkElBQk

A 38% whiff rate with his fastball probably isn't sustainable, but Allen also got multiple whiffs with his splitter and sweeper, and generally looked quite good – as he often did in the minors. The ERA last season was pretty ugly, particularly at Triple-A, where he had a 6.49 mark, but that was a bit of an outlier, and he's always gotten tons of strikeouts. There have been issues keeping the ball in the park at times, but Allen looked good enough in his debut to think he could hold his own, and the Guardians' pitching factory should maximize his value.

Lucchesi wasn't making his MLB debut when he faced the Giants on Friday, but it was his first appearance in the majors since 2021 after overcoming Tommy John surgery, and he was excellent, shutting out the Giants with four hits and two walks over seven innings. Lucchesi struck out nine, with his curveball and sinker accounting for all 10 of his swinging strikes. Lucchesi was starting to show some interesting signs in 2021 before the injury, sporting a 26% strikeout rate and 3.65 expected ERA, and while his velocity was down one mph, it didn't limit his effectiveness much. Allen is a higher priority add, but I could see Lucchesi being pretty useful moving forward.

Here's what else you need to know about from this weekend's games: