Philadelphia Phillies Manager Gives Thoughts on Their Recent High Strikeout Rate

A high number of strikeouts have started to pop up for the Philadelphia Phillies recently, bringing up some concerns about this lineup.

Aug 23, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Philadelphia Phillies manager Rob Thomson (59) in the dugout against the Kansas City Royals prior to a game at Kauffman Stadium / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies are knocking on the door to clinching the NL East title, something that seems like a formality with their current lead and how few games are remaining in the regular season.

For a long time during the year, it seemed like this would have already been wrapped up by now, but a prolonged period of struggles following the All-Star break put things in a little bit of jeopardy before they righted the ship.

Now, with a divisional clinch seemingly coming in the next few days, attention can start turning to how the Phillies will perform in the playoffs.

It's no secret this team has been close to winning the World Series, finishing as runner-ups in 2022 and coming one game away from going back last season before things fell apart in the National League Championship Series at home.

One of the main issues for Philadelphia when their bats went quiet was because they were striking out too much, something that has reared its ugly head the past two contests against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Despite splitting these two games, the Phillies struck out a total of 32 times that brought back bad memories of last October and what could ultimately be the demise of this team in 2024.

Manager Rob Thomson and his coaching staff have emphasized changing the approach when there are two strikes in the account, something that propelled Philadelphia to putting up crooked numbers against opposing pitching staffs throughout the majority of the year.

But during their final two games against the Brewers, the old habits came back to life.

"We've got to get back to our two-strike approaches and using the field. Eliminate chase," Thomson said per Matt Gelb of The Athletic.

The Phillies are at their best when they are "passing the baton" as their skipper likes to say, putting the bat to ball and forcing the defense to make a play that can create traffic on the basepaths. Multiple hitters have talked about their best at-bats coming when they just focus on making contact, not trying to force an extra-base hits.

So is what happened in Milwaukee a concerning sign, or just something that happens in a long season?

To Thomson, he thinks it was a result of the strong pitching they faced, and not something that should raise alarm bells going forward.

"I thought we played really well. They just pitched really well," he said after Wednesday's loss.

The best thing Philadelphia's hitters can do to silence those worries is getting back to their two-strike approach that has made them one of the best lineups in Major League Baseball this year.

If they do that, this could be the team that brings home a World Series title for the first time since 2008.