Phillies offense firing on all cylinders in second half
By John Town
The Phillies offense has been on fire since returning from the All-Star Break and has been among the best in the league in the second half.
The Phillies ended the first half with a dismal 29-58 record and was the worst team in all of baseball. Nothing was going right for them with at least one of the bullpen, rotation, or offense struggling, if not multiple.
After winning their weekend series over the Brewers, Philadelphia is now above .500 after the All-Star Break and finally showing some signs of life. The rotation has been strong with Jerad Eickhoff, Aaron Nola, and Vince Velasquez all pitching well in the second half.
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Where the team has really shined though has been on offense. After Sunday’s win, the Phils have scored five runs in seven straight games. In the second half, Philadelphia is among the top ten in the league in runs scored (ninth), OPS (ninth), wRC+ (ninth), wOBA (ninth), batting average (sixth), on-base percentage (fourth), and walk rate (second).
Rookie Nick Williams is impressing early in his career and has been one of the team’s best hitters in the second half. Since the All-Star Break he has three home runs, seven extra-base hits, and 14 RBI. He has the third-most RBI in the second half in all of baseball behind only Nolan Arenado and Jonathan Schoop.
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Odubel Herrera and Maikel Franco, both of whom had their struggles in the first half, are also off to a hot start in the second half. Herrera also has three home runs, six doubles, and seven RBI. Perhaps most impressively, Herrera has walked six times (seven if you count an intentional walk) in 40 plate appearances. Considering Herrera has walked just 5.7% of the time this season, it’s a notable stat in this short span.
Meanwhile, Franco has also been hitting well with a .333/.405/.528 line in 42 plate appearances. He has five extra-base hits with one home run.
He also has been walking a lot with an 11.9% walk rate while striking out just four times in these nine games.
This hitting streak has been so impressive that manager Pete Mackanin compared it to when he first started with the team eight years ago: [quote via Ben Harris of MLB.com]
"“My first year here as a coach was ’09,” Mackanin said. “In no way am I comparing ourselves to that team, but it was reminiscent the way we’ve been swinging the bats of us coming back and coming from behind and catching up and beating other teams.”"
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While this Phillies team is far from a World Series-caliber team, they have been swinging the bat well since the second of the season started. If this trend continues, they could climb their way out of the National League cellar.