This Stat Separates The Phillies Rotation From The Other Elite Staffs
The Phillies Rotation has been their strength to start the 2024 season. They are 2nd in ERA (2.7), 2nd in K/9 (9.31), 2nd in WHIP (1.05). 1st in WAR (5.9), and 1st in Batting Average Against (2.09). There is something else they are doing though, that tends to be underrated in today’s game, that seperates them even further from the other elite pitching staffs. They are going deep into games.
The Phillies Rotation Is Pitching Better, For Longer
For some reason, teams don’t value starters going deep into games the way they used to. That is evident by the fact only 2 of the last 6 Cy Young Winners pitched more than 200 innings.
It’s a trend across the league. Starters going 5 innings, and then coming out of the game. That is not the case for the Phillies though. Ranger Suarez averages 6.75 innings per game, 1st in the league. Aaron Nola averages 6.12. Wheeler fell under 6 this weekend but is still at 5.93. All 3 are in the top 10 among starting pitchers.
As a rotation they average 5.94 innings per game, 1st in the league. The Phillies Rotation is not just pitching better than every other staff, they are pitching more.
In an age where teams pull their starter after 5 innings, they are bucking the trend
So why does it matter? Because they literally give you more value. Would you rather have 160 innings of great pitching, or 200? The answer is obviously 200.
Also that 1 extra inning, is one less inning the bullpen has to pitch. By the end of the season, that is 162 fewer innings of wear and tear on your bullpen arms.
Comparing The Phillies Rotation To Other Staffs
So how do they stack up to their competition? The Dodgers are probably the “best team in the league” right now. Their rotation is one of their strengths. Their starter’s ERA is 3.18, 3rd in the League. But they only average 5.13 innings per game. That is 20th in the league.
The next closest team to the Phillies in Innings Per Game is Seattle at 5.75 innings per game, but they arent exactly a threat to the Phillies. The Braves are 3rd at 5.69.
But that means the Phillies starters average nearly an extra out per game. That may not seem like much, but it adds up over the course of the season. If it keeps up, that is 54 extra innings.
The same goes for every other competitive team behind them. The Orioles, Yankees, Red Sox, all the other top-end rotations, fall way short of the Phillies in terms of innings pitched per game.
More than anything else, this separates them from the other staffs. It gives the Phillies a major advantage. not just game to game but over the whole course of the season.
Pitching Smarter, Not Harder
What lets the Phillies Rotation go deeper into games? It’s because they buck the trend of velocity being the most important thing in the world.
Wheeler can light up the radar a bit, but Ranger and Nola both have fastballs that sit in the low 90s. All 3 do something more important than throwing hard though. They pitch. All 3 locate their pitches well. A 92 MPH fast that peppers the corners of the strike zone is more effective than a 99 MPH one that hangs over the plate.
It took 8 games for Ranger Suarez to get into his first 3-0 count, and he turned that at-bat into a double play.
They avoid letting their pitch count get inflated by working fast. When all you have is power, that pitch count is going to skyrocket. It also leads to injuries, but that is a different conversation.
This Phillies pitching staff works fast. They move through the lineup quickly, and it lets them go deeper into games. It is why we often see them still in the game long after the other team has already gone to the Pen.
The Phillies rotation is great. But not just because of how well they pitch, also because they pitch deeper into games than any other staff.
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