The Phillies Lineup Has Made Big Strides In 2025
After 3 straight playoff exits, we got used to the same story with the Phillies. Once teams start pitching around them, they lacked the patience to make pitchers pay. We…
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA – APRIL 29: Trea Turner #7 of the Philadelphia Phillies bats during a game against the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park on April 29, 2025 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
(Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)After 3 straight playoff exits, we got used to the same story with the Phillies. Once teams start pitching around them, they lacked the patience to make pitchers pay. We saw them go fishing for sliders in the dirt, or fastballs outside, way too often.
The fact they brought back pretty much the exact same lineup led many fans to think this season would be more of the same. Well, that assumption to this point has been wrong.
We are seeing a team that is more willing to pass the baton. They take more pitches. They will take a walk if that is what the pitcher gives them, and let the next batter come up. This is something Jayson Stark praised about them when he joined The Afternoon Show this week.
It's been interesting to watch this season unfold because their process is so much better than it was last year. Their chase rate is way down. The number of pitches they chase outside the strike zone. Their contact rate is up. Pitches per plate appearance is up significantly.
I know that it hasn't always worked out because they haven't hit a bunch of long balls. As the weather warms up, don't you think that will happen? As Bryce Harper warms don't you think that'll happen?
The one big complaint that everybody had about this team after the most recent October's was the way they went about at bats in big spots and you're seeing a difference and this is the kind of difference that works that over the long haul allows you to score more runs and do more damage late put more runners on base that's where runs scored come from."
The Phillies' chase rate is 27.8% this year. It was 30.3% last season. That jump puts them from in the bottom 10 of the league, to into the top 10.
Trea Turner in particular, has seen a big change. Last season, his chase rate was among the worst in the league at 33.9%. In 2023, it was even worse at 35.3%. This season, it is down to 28%. From being in the bottom 10% of the league to the middle of the pack. His patience has him putting more balls in play, and hence, getting more hits.
I know it is hard to have faith in the lineup come October, because we have seen the story before. But they have made a deliberate effort to be more patient at the plate. Right now, if a team tries to do what the Diamondbacks or Mets did, and just pitch around everyone, it would not work. The Phillies are not biting on that anymore.
They need to prove it in October. But they seem to have fixed their fatal flaw.
