Félix Reyes replaced Bryce Harper at first base in the very first inning of Saturday’s game against the Rockies. Harper leaving that early definitely worried the team. But it wasn’t a pulled muscle or a new injury that forced him out. Instead, it was a frustrating health problem he has dealt with before.

Harper fielded a ground ball from the Rockies’ Mickey Moniak at the top of the first inning. Immediately after the play, he was hit by an acute pain. According to a Phillies insider, he suffers from ocular migraine.

“Bryce Harper said his migraine started immediately after he fielded a grounder in the 1st yesterday,” Ty Daubert posted. “He gets ocular migraines that impair his vision about three times a year. They take an hour or so to resolve. Harper felt better by the 4th, but he was out of the game by then.”

Harper revealed that his migraine occurs about three times per year. And whenever that happens, it impairs his vision. That’s why he had to leave the field while the game was still on. And the Phillies had Félix Reyes to replace him on first base.

Ocular migraine, sometimes called retinal migraine, is a visual disturbance accompanied by a severe headache. Usually, it blinds one eye, and the occurrence continues from five minutes to an hour. That’s why the fourth inning suited the veteran slugger. But the team continued with Reyes.

Ocular migraine is quite uncommon and happens to 1 out of 200 people suffering from migraine. But the scary part is that the exact causes are not known. Most medical scrutiny points toward spasms in blood vessels or reduced blood flow behind the eye. For an average person, temporarily losing one’s sight is a terrifying experience. For a baseball player, playing through it is impossible. You need perfect vision and lightning-fast reactions to hit a 90 mph fastball. When an ocular migraine blurs your sight, you simply can’t track the ball or tell how fast it’s coming.

The reasons range from hormonal changes to dehydration, from high blood pressure to exposure to bright strobing lights. But there is no specific time of occurrence. And Harper admitted that he usually needs an hour for the migraine to dissolve.

A fan sympathized with Harper’s condition. “I get them too, but fortunately they only last about 20 minutes…so far. Whenever it happens, I’m never quite sure if I’ll get normal vision back,” she commented on the insider’s social media post. 

Losing your vision, even if only partially, all of a sudden, is one of the most frightening experiences one can have. And going through that horror at least three times a year feels more challenging for an elite MLB player. 

Luckily, Harper is back on the roster for Sunday’s game and has already hit a 411-foot homer off Tomoyuki Sugano in the third game against the Rockies. But his migraine isn’t a standalone case for the Phillies. 

Bryce Harper isn’t the first player with migraine issues on the Phillies roster

Philadelphia has witnessed two more migraine cases this season already. It started as early as April 12, when pitcher Andrew Painter woke up with a headache. According to MLB, Painter has suffered from migraines since travel ball as a kid. However, it wasn’t an ocular migraine, and he didn’t lose his vision. But he vomited multiple times. 

The Phillies’ No. 2 prospect had to use medication to ease the pain because he only had about three hours before the scheduled start at Citizens Bank Park. Unfortunately, it didn’t help the cause, and Painter was eventually scratched from his starting role, 45 minutes before the game. He went in for the third inning and recorded just three hits.

The Phillies had a somewhat similar incident a few days before Harper’s. Outfielder Justin Crawford was scratched from the Marlins game on May 2. According to Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer, he was slated to start the game in the central field. The team had to go with Garrett Stubbs because Crawford couldn’t play the game due to a migraine.

He was back for the third game in Miami and secured 1 RBI from 4 at-bats. Although Crawford had no vision impairment, three Phillies migraines in one season suggest an unusual pattern.

“What is up with all these migraines on the team?” a fan projected the most obvious question. Sadly, we don’t have a clear answer. But it was a relief to see Bryce Harper and the other two recover quickly. And the Phillies have already confirmed a 6-0 shutout win against Colorado, winning the series 2-1. 

Weirdly enough, they are tied for the second spot in the NL East with a 19-22 record. The Marlins and the Nationals have the same numbers as of May 11.