3 Phillies Players Who Deserve More Credit Than They Get

After 4 months, the Phillies' strengths and flaws should be quite clear. We know how great the likes of Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sanchez, Bryce Harper, Ranger Suarez, and Kyle Schwarber are. We also know that outside of a few names, namely Jhoan Duran, the bullpen is a bit flimsy. But even after 4 months, there are some Phillies players having solid seasons that do not get the credit they deserve.

Marsh gets a lot of grief. He brought it on himself with his horrible end to last season, which carried into a terrible April. Marsh had a slash line of just .095/.220/.167/.387 when he went on the IL after April 16th. However, since his return on May 3rd, things have been different.

Since May 3rd, Marsh has an impressive slash line of .302/.361/.454/.815. He also has 20 extra base hits in that time, including 14 doubles and 5 HRs. Since June 1st, he has the 3rd best OPS on the team.

He is part of a platoon, which inflates his slash line a bit. If he had to face every lefty, those numbers would take a hit. He is also a player out of position. His instincts in Center are sometimes questionable, and he is a much better fit for Leftfield. But in terms of a platoon player, it is hard to ask for more out of somebody. He is hitting the ball well, and it is a 3-month sample size now.

We would all prefer to have no platoons. But if you are going to have 1, Marsh is a good guy to have be part of one.

The Walker signing is a bust. He has not, and will never, live up to that contract. Last season was a disaster for him, with his ERA ballooning to 6.94. Many fans wanted the Phillies to simply cut ties with him and eat the rest of his contract. The Phillies made the right call keeping him around.

Has he been great? No. He might not even be a part of their playoff plans. But despite being juggled between the rotation and the pen, and almost never having a clear role, Walker has gotten the job done. His ERA currently sits at 3.53.

It has not looked pretty. He might be getting a bit lucky. But Walker has been a professional the whole time. It is a solid bounce-back season. The contract can't be undone, but Walker is doing his best to make up for it.

Banks is not a guy you want going in for a high-leverage situation. But he has quietly gotten the job done as a middle reliever.

Since June, his ERA is 2.70. Only Duran, Orion Kerkering, Matt Straham, and Alan Rangel have a better ERA than Banks in that time, but Rangel only pitched 10 innings to Banks' 23.1. His WHIP of .99 is the 2nd best in the bullpen over that time. His walk rate of 1.69 per 9 innings is the lowest of any Phillies pitcher, and is the 11th lowest in all of baseball.

Over that period, no pitcher has appeared in more games than Banks. He has made 24 appearances. And he gets the job done nearly every time. In July 10 he had clean innings in 10 of his 12 appearances, including 2 times where he pitched more than 1 inning. 8 of his 10 outings in June were scoreless.

Would you want him to face Ohtani, Betts, and Freeman in the 8th or 9th inning? Probably not. But if you need a guy to get you to the backend of the bullpen, Banks can do it at a high level. He is a quality middle reliever whose impact gets overlooked.