The 'Phillies Daycare' Must Propel Club Past a September Collapse

Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott, Matt Vierling and Nick Maton propelled the Philadelphia Phillies to a series of late-August wins. Can they do it again in September?

Ben Silver | Sep 9, 2022

The 'Phillies Daycare' Must Propel Club Past a September Collapse /

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Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies need their youth. That group is the singular new variable comparing the 2022 iteration of the Phillies to previous years and collapses.

Matt Vierling, Alec Bohm, and Nick Maton all played minor roles in the Phillies' Sept. 2021 collapse, and that was the club's best September since 2017. Bryson Stott is entirely new, and all four will take center stage this month as the Phillies look to slay the beasts that have plagued them for half a decade.

Since Aug. 20, Bohm is slashing .342/.370/.487. Though no one will ever mistake him for a Gold Glove winner, he's begun to find his footing at the hot corner. Including a dreadful April and May, Bohm has -7 OAA and his UZR (ultimate zone rating) is only -1.8. Though UZR is generally a more conservative estimate of defense compared to DRS and even OAA, -1.8 is only marginally below average.

To Bohm's left is Bryson Stott, who has been one of the Phillies most consistent hitters going back as far as Jun. 1. Since that date, he's slashing .267/.327/.429. His defense at middle infield speak for itself. Though he's a league-average shortstop, he has the tools to one day win a Gold Glove at second base.

Examining Stott from a slightly smaller sample, he's slashing .347/.392/.526 since Aug. 6. His red-hot bat has kept the Phillies above water and propelled them to victory during several dreadful stretches in the past month.

Even Matt Vierling has begun to join in on the fun. After a truly dreadful stretch from Jul. 2 to Aug. 22 in which his OPS was .477 over 134 plate appearances, he has since posted a slash of .318/.362/.455 over his last 47 plate appearances.

Not that Vierling has made up for Nick Castellanos' bat entirely in right field, but his defense is certainly an improvement, and if he can hold a league average OPS, a player of his build is very valuable off the bench.

The last of four 'Phillies Daycare' members remaining on the 28-man roster is Nick Maton. Little needs be said about his offense this year, given the brilliance he's shown in a small sample size. But even since returning from the IL and the minor leagues on Aug. 6, he's exhibited good power, a solid hit tool, an astute eye, nice defense and fantastic versatility, playing outfield for the first time in his career.

Maton has slashed .265/.381/.500 since his return, receiving most of his at-bats in a bench role and as outfield depth. There's been little room for him at his natural middle infield role given Jean Segura's consistency.

That quartet of youngsters was largely responsible for the Phillies six-game win streak against the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates in the fourth week of August. Playing against lesser opponents, many of whom are fringe minor league players, it fell to the Phillies who had most recently played minor league baseball to lead the offensive charge.

Now, once against matched up with the lesser opponents for their coming six games against the Washington Nationals and Miami Marlins, the 'Phillies Daycare' will again face a litany of Quadruple-A players.

While the bats of Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber have fallen silent, Maton, Vierling, Bohm, and Stott are there to pick up the slack, pushing the Phillies to victory with a rambunctious temperament and an intense will to win, driven by the untested optimism of youth.

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Published Sep 9, 2022

BEN SILVER

Ben Silver is deputy editor for Inside the Phillies. A graduate of Boston University, Ben formerly covered the Phillies for PhilliesNation.com. Follow him on Twittter @BenHSilver.