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Who Is This Phillies Team? Not Sure, But It’s Time To Find Out

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Author Bob Cooney
Trea Turner #7 of the Philadelphia Phillies hits an RBI single during the third inning against the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park on June 25, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

There are so many ways to describe this Phillies’ 77-game season thus far. Aggravating, non-sensical, head-scratching. All those adjectives lend to a disappointing outlook. The team has compiled a 40-37 record. They find themselves three games behind a final wild card spot in the National League. Reasoning for the pessimistic outlook?  

Well, there’s the less-than-expected bat work of newly acquired Trea Turner; the power outage that Bryce Harper appears to be going through since returning from injury; the “home run-only” production of leadoff hitter Kyle Scwharber, currently hitting .181 with a league-high 99 strikeouts. 

So does an optimist have any say in all this? Can one make a tangible argument as to why the Phillies just may turn this season around to get on the 90-or-so-win pace that many envisioned before the season began? Well, sure. And to do that let’s look at the pessimistic side of things first. 

Since his batting average dipped to .232 after an 0-for-5 performance against the Washington Nationals, Turner has gone 21-for-69 (.304) with 15 runs scored and seven stolen bases. It’s probably no coincidence, either, that the team has gone 13-5 over that 18-game stretch.

Harper is still sitting at just three home runs on the season to go along with 17 RBI since returning from elbow surgery. He has only 200 plate appearances so far. Realistically this should have been the time of the season when he should just be returning to the lineup. So let’s not forget how ahead of schedule he is. And we’d all be lying if we said we thought the lack of power production from the former MVP would last for his next 250 at-bats. 

As for Schwarber, it could be the biggest conundrum surrounding this team. A leadoff hitter with that average who has 20 home runs on 50 hits. One who certainly isn’t in the leadoff spot due to his speed on the base paths. But a leadoff hitter whose team seems to win when he is put in that spot. And isn’t that the ultimate goal? 

There are reasons for doubt and reasons for hope. Another in the hopeful category is the six-game stretch by the starting pitching that had them go 36 innings and allowed just 3 earned runs. 

Somewhere in this 40-37 start is the team John Middleton and Dave Dombrowski paid hundreds of millions of dollars to assemble. The hints are there. Now is the time to find the answers.

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7 Surprising Stats From The Phillies Season So Far

This has not been the easiest Phillies season for fans so far. Into June they were under .500, and out of the Wild Card. Much like last season, the Phillies got out of the gates slowly, creating a hole for them to dig out of. A lot of their star players struggled early on. Bryce Harper missed the first month of the season. And the starting rotation was a disaster in the first two months.

To their credit, things have been better lately. They won 7 of 8 before last night’s loss in Arizona. That did include 5 wins vs the lowly Nationals and Tigers. But they finished that homestand off with an impressive series win over the Dodgers. The bats picked up, and most of the starters looked great. It has them at 32-34 now. Trea Turner is starting to hit. June Kyle Schwarber is upon us, and most of the Starters have found their stuff.

Things are still not great. But a trend in the right direction. They did drop game 1 in Arizona, but it was not too surprising since it was a bullpen game. The bats still put up 8 runs at least, and we got treated to JT Realmuto hitting for a cycle. For a second we even thought they would win until the Umps pulled the carpet out from under us by showing the Kody Clemens HR was actually a foul ball.

With the season starting to turn around, it is a decent time to look over the team and assess what has gone well, and what has gone wrong. It has been a surprising season for the Phillies. And in that there are both good and bad surprises. Guys who have shown up early on to keep the Phillies afloat. But also troubling trends that the Phillies need to fix.

Here are 7 surprising stats from the first two months and change of this Phillies season:

 

 

  • .315

    One of the most surprising positives this season has been Nick Castellanos. The Phillies’ big free agent from last season struggled badly in year one in Philly. To the point that many fans were already writing him off coming into this season. But man has he turned things around. He is hitting .315 on the young season. 

    That is 5th in the MLB. Behind big-time names like Freddie Freeman, Bo Bichette, Ronald Acuna, and of course, Luis Arraez who is threatening to hit over .400. With 26 multi-hit games out of 66, he is 4th in the MLB. Nick is also 3rd in the MLB with 21 doubles.

    He has been the team MVP and it is not particularly close. You still can’t call him a patient hitter. But his approach at the plate is so much better. He no longer swings at every single breaking ball outside the zone. And he just seems like a far more confident and competent hitter when he steps up to the plate. To the point where when he steps up to the plate, it feels like something good is going to happen every time.

  • 35

    Before the season, we thought this was around the time Bryce Harper may have been back. Turns out on June 13th, he has already played 35 games. His quick turnaround from Tommy John’s is unprecedented. He didn’t even have a rehab assignment.

    Even crazier, is how well he has played. He is slashing .295/.392/.442/.834. The slugging is a little lower than it usually is. The home runs are not showing up yet. But given he had no spring training, no offseason workout program, and no rehab assignment, you can forgive that for now. He is still hitting the ball, still drawing walks, and he does have 10 doubles. That is 19 doubles stretched across the whole season so far if he didn’t miss time. Which would make him tied for 7th in the league.

     

  • .167

    This is still a team with a losing record, so it couldn’t all be positive. And of all the issues the Phillies have had, the 5th starter spot is the worst one. The Phillies are 2-10 in games started by either Bailey Falter or any of the bullpen games they have replaced him with. That is a winning percentage of .167.

    If they were just 6-6 with that spot in the rotation, the Phillies would be 36-30. That would put them from being 5th in the wild card race, to one game out of the Dodgers and the 1st Wild Card. If they got just average production from that spot, things would look much different. They would even be a manageable 4 games back from the Braves. The lack of a 5th starter is killing them.

    They don’t need to fill it with someone great. But if they just filled it with someone average, they would be in a much better position. As it stands it feels like they are waving the white flag on every 5th game. They scored 8 runs last night and couldn’t win because they gave up 9 in the bullpen game.

  • 75

    Who had Bryson Stott being one of the best pure hitters on the team on their Phillies bingo card? Well, the numbers don’t lie. At 75 hits, he is 2nd on the team in hits. Are most of them singles? Yes. But when you are getting that many of them, you can forgive the lack of power, especially from a 2nd baseman. It doesn’t stop there though. He is also tied for 1st on the team with 9 steals.

    Is he a Super Star? No. But he is the type of guy every good team needs. Someone who just comes up and has professional at-bats every single time. Even when he produces an out, it still usually feels like he accomplished something. Whether it is just making the pitcher work, moving a runner over, or whatever it may be.

    Not to mention he is playing incredible defense at 2nd along with it. Stott has turned into one of the more dependable guys on the team. He is hitting .316 over the last 30 days.

  • .371

    The Phillies have not had an issue playing at home. At 19-11, their .633 home winning percentage is 4th in the league. The problem is when they go on the road. They are just .371 when playing anywhere but Citizens Bank Park. The 3rd worst Away winning percentage of any team.

    Some level of the split is to be expected. But to go from the 4th best team in the league to the 3rd worst is baffling. The road to winning anything this year will likely be on the road again. Catching the Braves will be tough. The Braves are not the Mets, and an end-of-the-year collapse is hard to see happening. Meaning in all likelihood, the Phillies will be a Wild Card team again.

    They are going to have to win against tough teams on the road to get back to the World Series. We saw them do it last playoffs, but for whatever reason, they have been awful on the road this year.

  • .757

    Perhaps the biggest surprise has been Kody Clemens. No one thought much of him when he was part of the Gregory Soto trade. But then Rhys Hoskins got hurt. Then Darick Hall got hurt. Suddenly the Phillies were without a first baseman, and Kody Clemens got the call. At first, it did not look like there was much hope for him at the plate. But a week with Kevin Long fixed his weird swing. And since then, he has been surprisingly good.

    His OPS is .757. Nothing too special. But for a guy people thought was a AAA player, it’s notable. It is not that far off from Christain Walker’s and Anthony Rizzo’s OPS. And he seems to have a knack for big hits at the right time. He almost did it again last night when he just missed a go-ahead HR.

    Is he a long-term answer at first base? Probably not. But is he a good guy to have off the bench? Feels like it. His great glove at first is another plus to add on top of it.

  • 4.60

    Aaron Nola was not very trusted by Phillies fans coming into the season. After the collapse in the Playoffs, it was hard to still see him as a true ace. But even his biggest haters couldn’t have seen this coming. a 4.6 ERA through 14 starts.

    He has had games where he looked like an Ace. But they are always followed by games where he gets killed. Of all the starter issues, apart from perhaps the complete lack of a 5th starter, Nola is the most concerning. Wheeler has been up and down, but we still see the dominant stuff. Ranger had no time to prepare so you can forgive his slow start. But the Phillies aren’t winning anything if Nola is not dominating. And right now, he is not dominating.

    Even in the games where he is looking good, there is always that fear he is one mistake pitch away from falling apart. He needs to figure it out and find a way to be consistent if the Phillies are going to be real contenders.

     

 

Bob Cooney has been a part of the Philadelphia sports scene for more years than he wants to admit after 25 years in print media, and now in his seventh year at The Fanatic. Throughout the years, he has covered all sports from the World Series, multiple Final Fours and Regional Finals in men’s college basketball, to the U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club and the 76ers. He takes his sports media knowledge and background to a new level by joining a conversation with the passionate fans of this great city. He writes about the Sixers, Eagles, Flyers, and Phillies for the Fanatic.

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