Inside The Phillies

Phillies Make Massive Improvement to Critical Flaw From 2024

Have the Philadelphia Phillies fixed one of their biggest weaknesses from last season?

Tyler Maher

Feb 26, 2025; Dunedin, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies second base Bryson Stott (5) hits an rbi single against the Toronto Blue Jays in the sixth inning during spring training at TD Ballpark.
Feb 26, 2025; Dunedin, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies second base Bryson Stott (5) hits an rbi single against the Toronto Blue Jays in the sixth inning during spring training at TD Ballpark. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
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Much of success in baseball comes from controlling the strike zone. If teams consistently do that on the mound and at the plate, they're probably going to win a lot of games.

Unfortunately for the Philadelphia Phillies, they didn't do that enough last year, especially on offense in the second half. One of their fans' main complaints was that they were too chase-happy, and it ended up costing them in October (along with their leaky bullpen) when they lost to the New York Mets in the NLDS.

Fortunately, the Phillies may have corrected that issue based on their promising spring training stats. Entering Monday's final spring training games, they led all teams with 148 walks drawn.

Given how last season ended, that's an encouraging sign for Philadelphia heading into 2025.

While the Phillies have several patient hitters like Kyle Schwarber (last year's NL walks leader) and Bryce Harper, much of their star-studded lineup has an aggressive approach in the batter's box. That can be beneficial sometimes, but it can also backfire if they become too chase-happy and get themselves out by swinging at bad pitches.

Philadelphia finished eighth in MLB in walk rate last season at 8.4%, but the team's plate discipline eroded in the second half as several hitters fell into bad habits and started pressing.

Before the All-Star Break, the Phillies had a 9.1% walk rate and a 21.9% strikeout rate. After the All-Star Break, those numbers slipped to 7.3% and 22.7%.

Not surprisingly, Philadelphia's record suffered as well. The Phillies went 54-27 in the first half but were just one game over .500 (41-40) in the second half.

That trend carried over into the playoffs, where they won just one game before getting knocked out by a Mets team that finished six games behind them in the NL East standings.

While most of Philadelphia's stars are older veterans who are somewhat set in their ways, one player who's shown much better plate discipline in spring training is Bryson Stott. After improving his walk rate from 6.1% in 2023 to 9.3% last year, he's continued to build on that with a remarkable 13/6 BB/K ratio in spring training.

If the 27-year-old maintains that during the regular season, he has a chance to greatly improve on last year's underwhelming .245/.315/.356 batting line.

Spring training stats don't mean much, but it's a good sign that the Phillies might be a more disciplined offensive team this season. If they keep it up once the real games start, they have a chance to be one of the most dangerous lineups in baseball this year.

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Tyler Maher
TYLER MAHER

Tyler is a writer for Sports Illustrated's Inside the Phillies. He grew up in Massachusetts and is a huge Boston sports fan, especially the Red Sox. He went to Tufts University and played club baseball for the Jumbos. Since graduating, he has worked for MLB.com, The Game Day, FanDuel and Forbes. When he's not writing about baseball, he enjoys running, traveling, and playing fetch with his golden retriever.

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