Before the start of the 2019 season, the Phillies decided they needed to buy their superstar.
To that point, a number of young prospects had been developed through the minor league system and been called up to the majors. A couple of them became very good players, Aaron Nola and Rhys Hoskins the best of the bunch. Most, however, did not pan out.
Nick Williams. Aaron Altherr. Maikel Franco. The list is long and distinguished.
Because the farm system didn’t develop players well during the rebuild, and because owner John Middleton didn’t want the rebuild to last a full decade, he made the decision to go out onto the free agent market and buy some players to make the Phillies competitive.
It’s why they spent $330 million on Bryce Harper and signed Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner, Nick Castellanos, Zack Wheeler and J.T. Realmuto to huge deals in recent seasons. However, over the last couple years, the farm system has produced some gems to supplement the star-laden roster.
Now, those players have emerged as more than just role players. They are stars.
Ranger Suarez’ insane start to the season has been well documented. Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm, however, are turning in All-Star seasons and are becoming among the very best players at their positions.
After a five-RBI day against the Nationals on Sunday, Bohm leads the MLB with 42 RBIs, and his 18 doubles is also tops in MLB. Among third basemen, his Wins Above Replacement total of 2.3 is also the best. He’s hitting .330 this season, the 6th-best batting average in baseball, with a .917 OPS.
Bohm isn’t simply providing a modicum of production at the bottom of the lineup. He’s turned into a true run producer in the cleanup spot. He is forcing teams to actually throw strikes to Harper, who is usually batting in front of him in the lineup, because they know Bohm is among the very best hitters in baseball with runners on base, a .393 average.
After a very slow start, Stott has caught fire and is in position to be named the NL Player of the Month if his final 10 days are anything like the first 20. So far in May, Stott is hitting .383 and has an insane on-base percentage of .523.
That’s right, Stott has been on base in more than half of his plate appearances this month, and has a slugging percentage of .617, with 16 runs, 15 RBIs, and 7 stolen bases. His .393 season-long on-base percentage of .393 is 12th.
On the latest episode of Hittin’ Season, we discussed the emergence of Bohm and Stott as legitimate stars for the Phils.
The Phillies needed this. After all, one cannot simply go out and buy a roster full of players and still maintain continuity and payroll flexibility. Every successful team has homegrown talent that they have developed and turned into star players.
For a long time, it didn’t appear as if the Phils were capable of doing that.
Now, suddenly, they do. And it could be the biggest reason for their early season success.