With a month left in the season, Bryce Harper is a long way from returning

The Nationals are hopeful, but realistic about his progress.

When Bryce Harper initially hyperextended his knee, the Nationals and Harper were both elated to be able to say that it could have been much worse and that Harper would be back on the field soon.

Now, things aren’t so bright and hopeful as Harper hasn’t even started running yet nonetheless participating in any sort of baseball activities in his preparation to return to the field.

With Max Scherzer, Jayson Werth, and Trea Turner all returning to the Nats’ lineup this week Harper’s absence weighs a little lighter on the team but he’s still a key piece to their playoff plans and without him they’re just a little less scary.

(Not that a team that has never made it to an NLCS is all that scary for opponents, but Harper surely helps their intimidation factor.)

About his recovery, Harper told MLB.com,

"If I wasn't an athlete and I was just your average person, I'd probably not even be on [my knee] or doing anything. I'm thankful enough to have a strong unit in there and training staff to come in every single day and work hard and do the things I need to do around my body."

It’s been a fortnight since Harper injured his leg initially, so it can be expected that he’s not in full-on exercise mode yet. But it’s also a situation where he doesn’t have the luxury of an open-ended timeline to come back and compete with the team.

He acknowledged that, saying "I think it's gonna take some time to get going, of course. We don't have much."

While both Harper and Nationals’ manager Dusty Baker are speaking openly about the limited timeline available to them for Harper to fully come back, the MLB.com article also notes the hushed tones and concerned thoughts around the clubhouse.

Even when it’s an oft-spoken concern, a worry like this is still tiptoed around so as to let hope have it’s seat at the table and not focus so much on the downsides of the situation.

In Baker’s case, he said of the possibility that Harper won’t make it back "I hate the thought of him not being around, but you've got to make those plans."

He added on, "We've got [a while] before we holler 'doomsday. We've got a month to go, and then we'll see."

Based on how Bryce is progressing, “we’ll see” seems to be the best case scenario.