2025-05-02 15:06:57

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Some of you might be a bit confused seeing my byline under a Phillies story again, but after a long and peculiar Sixers season, be on the lookout for some Phillies analysis from me during pockets of the NBA offseason in which the Sixers are not in the news. On the heels of two straight series victories, a collection of notes on the state of a confusing baseball team in the form of 5 Phillies thoughts: The duality of leadoff hitter Bryson Stott Phillies manager Rob Thomson has grown comfortable with Stott atop his lineup against right-handed pitchers, enabling Kyle Schwarber to hit behind Bryce Harper and provide some protection for the two-time National League MVP. For the second year in a row, Stott has enjoyed an encouraging start to the season, hitting for average and taking his walks while providing excellent defense and some juice on the base paths. Stott is slashing .286/.361/.419 in 28 games entering Friday's series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and a much more impressive .313/.390/.470 against right-handed pitching. Stott's patience is one of his defining traits as a hitter, and it has its benefits: only one player in the majors — old friend J.P. Crawford — is seeing more pitches than Stott per plate appearance this season. His discipline is welcomed in a Phillies lineup full of chasers. But it is fair to ask if Stott is being too patient, to the point that he is not taking advantage when receiving good pitches to hit. An example: Stott has nearly entirely abandoned swinging at the first pitch of any plate appearance. In his first 119 plate appearances of the season, Stott has swung at a 0-0 pitch only seven times — good for 5.9 percent. Of 309 major-league hitters with at least 50 plate appearances this season, Stott is 309th in swing percentage on 0-0 pitches — and nobody is close. Ranked 308th is Masyn Winn of the St. Louis Cardinals, who has swung at 10.2 percent of the 0-0 pitches he has seen. In 2025, MLB teams aggressively pursue every tell they can about a player's approach. The longer Stott goes with a red light to begin his plate appearances, the more likely it is teams will take the invitation to land stress-free strikes. Tanner Banks coming on strong The Phillies bullpen has drawn a whole lot of ire in the first month and change of the season — particularly as Jeff Hoffman shines in Toronto and Carlos Estévez does the same in Kansas City. But Banks, the left-hander acquired from the Chicago White Sox at last year's trade deadline to replace Gregory Soto, has emerged as a quality option in recent weeks. After retiring all five batters he faced in Wednesday's win over the Washington Nationals — four via strikeout — Banks owns a 3.38 ERA and 1.12 WHIP in 13.1 innings pitched this season. The sample remains small, but in a bullpen with so many issues, Banks has earned some higher-leverage opportunities. Banks stepping up could pay dividends, especially if the team's two most important right-handers, Orion Kerkering and Jordan Romano, fail to find their footing. This is true thanks in large part to the two lefties ahead of Banks in the pecking order, José Alvarado and Matt Strahm. Alvarado and Strahm have clearly been the team's two most reliable bullpen arms all season; that figures to remain the case for the foreseeable future. But part of each one's appeal is their ability to get right-handed hitters out. Strahm has had some early struggles against them this season, but was actually far better against righties than lefties in a larger sample during his career year last season. And with the way Alvarado is throwing the ball right now, Thomson rightfully seems inclined to trust him no matter who is at the plate. If Banks continues ascending and Kerkering and Romano continue descending, perhaps Thomson could deploy Banks in some of the critical spots against left-handed hitters and use Alvarado and Strahm against key righties. It would be unconventional, but it may be the best use of the talent available to the skipper right now. Making sense of Johan Rojas' start The Phillies' 24-year-old center fielder has been playing every day in the wake of Brandon Marsh's injury, and Rojas' season has already been full of ups and downs — but not the ones anyone would have expected. All along, the club has hoped Rojas would do just enough at the plate to be able to justify keeping his elite glove in center field. But so far this season, Rojas' work with the bat has been far better than anticipated — and he has made a few brutal mistakes in center that have really hurt the team. As frustrating as those blunders have been, it is impossible to deny that Rojas looks like a different hitter right now. The main reason: his quality of contact is far better than it has ever been. Not everything boils down to exit velocity, but Rojas is hitting a lot of balls with real force this season. His exit velocity averages were near the bottom of the league in 2023 and 2024 but have gone up significantly in 2025. Rojas smoked his first homer of the season in Tuesday's series-opening win over Washington, a missile to left-center field: Do not pencil Rojas in for a Silver Slugger Award, but he very well may be experiencing an important offensive leap. His current slash line against left-handed pitching — .364/.391/.546 — bodes well for the platoon role he is likely to serve in once Marsh is back. Now, if he can just get that defense back on track... Ranger Suárez is days away. Who will be removed from the roster? Suárez is expected make his season debut in Sunday's series finale against Arizona, and he will be rejoining the starting rotation. A corresponding move will be required to clear a spot for the left-hander in his contract year, and the Phillies do not have a ton of maneuverability in that regard: Banks and Kerkering are their only relievers with minor league options; either one being sent to Triple-A would be a surprise. MORE SPORTSSixers year-in-review: Noteworthy stats, film, quotes and takeaways from each player's seasonKyle McCord was an unconventional Eagles draft pick – that might just work outFlyers coaching search primer: Who's available and what they're looking for The most obvious candidate to be designated for assignment is Carlos Hernández, the hard-throwing righty claimed on waivers by the Phillies days before the season began. Hernández has thrown a scoreless inning in three consecutive outings, but this will boil down to a numbers game and he is the likeliest victim. If Hernández clears waivers, the Phillies could keep him in Lehigh Valley's bullpen and have another decent depth option there. The IronPigs bullpen just added another right-handed arm, Daniel Robert, acquired by the Phillies after being DFA'd by the Texas Rangers. Will Taijuan Walker remain in the starting rotation? The bigger question to ask in light of Suárez's upcoming return is how it will impact the role of Walker, who has gone from a laughing stock in 2024 to giving the Phillies a strong run of six starts to fill in for Suárez during the first handful of weeks in 2025. Walker took a loss in Thursday's series finale against Washington — the product of shaky defense behind him and not much offense to support him — but he has a 2.54 ERA in 28.1 innings in the starting rotation. The quality of Walker's stuff has gone from substandard to playable, which Thomson has reiterated is the product of Walker's hard work. He has even found a way to utilize his athleticism on the mound, from picking off runners with remarkably quick feet to pulling off a web gem like this: Walker has demonstrated enough ability to at least be valuable in a multi-inning bullpen role, which could help ease the workload of arms like Alvarado and Strahm. But most people would argue that Walker has earned the chance to continue starting. With Suárez joining four mainstays in the rotation and the summertime addition of top prospect Andrew Painter looming, though, it may not be that simple. Follow Adam on Twitter: @SixersAdam Follow PhillyVoice on Twitter: @thephillyvoice