Bryce Harper spends first day in Phillies dugout giving advice to Mickey Moniak

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Mickey Moniak walked through the Phillies’ weight room Tuesday morning and was stopped by a familiar face.

It was Bryce Harper — the team’s new $330 million superstar — and he was introducing himself to the 20-year-old who has yet to reach double A.

“Anything you need, man,” Harper said. “Just let me know.”

Tuesday was just Harper’s second day around his new teammates. He has a roster of faces to meet. That brief moment for Moniak would have been enough.

“He introduced himself to me. I thought was incredible,” Moniak said. “It goes to show what kind of guy he is.”

But it did not stop with just a passing greeting in the weight room. The two watched the first three innings of Tuesday’s 2-1 win over the Cardinals from the top step of the dugout. They leaned on the dugout railing as Harper mimicked swings and Moniak nodded along.

Moniak, after he was drafted first overall in 2016, read an article in which Harper, who was drafted first overall six years earlier, relayed to a reporter what Moniak could expect. Harper, in that article, told Moniak to trust his talent and have fun.

Reading his advice in that article, Moniak said, was “cool in itself.” But now he was leaning against the dugout railing with the real thing.

“He pretty much just told me to be myself,” Moniak said. “He was picking my brain on baseball questions and kind of what he thought, going at-bat by at-bat with hitting. The main thing was to be yourself. He was talking about different guys and how he likes to go about his business. It was really cool.”

Moniak should start the season at double A after finishing last season with a solid stretch at high-A Clearwater, where he trimmed his strikeouts, raised his on-base percentage, and hit for average. Moniak began to look like the player the Phillies projected him to be when they made him the first high-school outfielder since Harper to be selected first overall.

Harper will be limited to watching the Phillies from the top step before he steps in on Saturday as a designated hitter against Toronto. The Phillies will have him face live pitching on Wednesday and Thursday on the backfields of the Carpenter Complex to prepare him for Saturday.

He did not travel to Sunday’s game in Fort Myers, so Tuesday was the first time he had ever been in a Phillies dugout. And he chose to spend that time next to Moniak.

“We were having a conversation about Mickey this morning and how soon we could expect him to develop into a major-league player,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “And conversations like the one that he had with Bryce can only help him develop.”

The Phillies locked up their corner outfield positions for the foreseeable future by landing Harper and signing Andrew McCutchen to a three-year deal. Moniak is a center fielder, but even that position is filled by Odubel Herrera, who is under contract for at least three more seasons.

Kapler, on the day after Harper signed, said his message to the young outfielders -- like Moniak and 2017 first-rounder Adam Haseley -- is there is “a lot of at-bats” for them in the future. The Phillies have Harper under contract for 13 years. If Moniak reaches the majors with the Phillies, they will be teammates.

The Phillies’ minor-league position players reported to spring training over the weekend, cramping the clubhouse for the backfields. Moniak’s time in the spacious big-league clubhouse is limited. He will be instructed sometime soon to pack his belongings and carry his red duffel bag to the minor-league side. And when he does, he knows he’ll be leaving with good advice.

“For him to be a teammate is unbelievable to just be around him,” Moniak said. “Anything I can learn from him is obviously going to be useful.”

Roman Quinn has made enough progress from his oblique injury that the Phillies are optimistic he could be ready for opening day. ... Odubel Herrera has the flu and continues to be sidelined with a hamstring injury. ... Cesar Hernandez is “progressing as expected,” Kapler said, from his hip-flexor injury. ... Vince Velasquez starts Wednesday in Dunedin against the Blue Jays.