The Phillies tremendous month of June has come to a close. They went 19-8 in the month of June to resurrect their postseason chances. After this fantastic month, they currently find themselves occupying the last Wild Card spot after a massive series win over the Cardinals. Philadelphia will now look to pad the lead with a series against the lowly Nationals before heading to St. Louis for a four-game series.
Stock Up
Kyle Schwarber
The month of June officially belongs to Kyle Schwarber, as he was named NL Player of the Month after posting a 1.065 OPS and slugging 12 home runs, the most of any player in the month. Schwarber’s 27 RBIs in June were the best in the NL and only one behind fellow Player of the Month winner Yordan Alvarez who had 28. Schwarber carried over his production into July, as he launched two home runs in an 11-0 win over the Nationals on Tuesday.
Rhys Hoskins
Hoskins was overshadowed a bit by Schwarber over the last month, but he was almost just as good. The Phillies first baseman hit .306 with a 1.026 OPS with a 182 wRC+ that was eighth best in baseball. Despite an 0-5 Tuesday night, Hoskins is hitting .333 over his last seven games with 4 home runs and an OPS of 1.350. He’s stepped up in a big way since Bryce Harper was injured on June 26th as Hoskins is hitting .310 with an OPS of 1.228 and four home runs in eight games.
Alec Bohm
Bohm pushed his hit streak to nine games with two hits against the Nationals, including a two-run single with the bases loaded. He’s hitting .378 over that hitting streak with four extra base hits. Bohm only has an OPS of .667 on the season and 18 extra base hits in 77 games, but his 30 RBIs are sixth on the team. The Phillies will need him to start hitting for more power sooner rather than later, however.
Darick Hall
Speaking of hitting for power, that’s about all Darick Hall has done since being called to the Majors on June 29th. Hall has 3 home runs in just six games played and four of his seven total hits are for extra bases. The big lefty’s solo shot in the sixth inning on Friday gave the Phillies the lead they wouldn’t relinquish in their crucial first game against the Cardinals. His power stroke against right-handed pitching has been exactly what the Phillies could’ve hoped for when they decided to promote him.
The Bullpen
The Phillies bullpen has been the best in baseball over the last two weeks. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. Phillies relievers have a 0.68 ERA in 39.2 innings over that span which is the lowest in baseball. Their nine walks are also tied for league best over that same span. This is significant considering that they have the second worst walk percentage in the league (11.1%) and third worst BB/9 (4.30) for the whole season.
Bryson Stott
Stott is riding a modest hot streak of his own, as he’s hitting .350 over his last seven games played with an .850 OPS. He has a .500 OBP in that span with six walks to no strikeouts. Stott is beginning to get a feel for MLB pitching and is showing the plate discipline that helped him excel in the minors.
Stock Down
Kyle Gibson
The Phillies will need to lean on Gibson and their other two healthy starters in Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler after the injuries to Ranger Suarez and Zach Eflin. Gibson’s most recent start began with a disastrous first inning in which he allowed four straight home runs to Cardinals’ hitters with two outs in the inning. Gibson exited after four innings and was charged with six runs on seven hits. The Phillies battled back in the game but ultimately fell one run short, and it’s hard not to point to Gibson’s first inning as one of the biggest reasons why they lost. He finished June with a 5.81 ERA in five starts and his season ERA sits at 4.91.
Hitting with the bases loaded
Despite their strong offense overall, the Phillies just can’t seem to hit with the bases loaded. They own a collective .186 AVG and .539 in 69 plate appearances with the bases loaded. Those are fifth and fourth worst in baseball respectively. They still do not have a hit with the bases loaded and nobody out in 11 tries this season. That is utterly dumbfounding for a team that has scored the third most runs in baseball.
Mickey Moniak
Moniak continues to be an automatic out as he’s 1 for his last 15 with four strikeouts. He simply hasn’t shown that he can contribute anything offensively at the major league level despite making a couple of nice plays in the field.
