Phillies first month in review: Who was hot, who wasn’t in April

By John Town | May 2, 2018

Rhys Hoskins #17 and Aaron Nola #27 of the Philadelphia Phillies (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

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MIAMI, FL – MAY 01: Carlos Santana #41 of the Philadelphia Phillies hits for a double in the ninth inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on May 1, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

Who’s not

1B Carlos Santana

– The $60 million man has gotten off to a disappointing start this season. Santana is hitting just .158 so far, but a 17.3 percent walk rate has brought his OBP to .307 on the season. More than half of his batted balls have been fly balls, while just 4.7 percent have left the ballpark. If some of those fly balls landed in the right places, he would have much better numbers this season.

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SS J.P. Crawford – Another season, another poor start for Crawford. He was hitting just .188 with a .575 OPS before landing on the disabled list. His poor start has been especially concerning considering his walk rate is a mere 5.6 percent with a 26.8 percent strikeout rate.

C Jorge Alfaro – The number that jumps out the most on Alfaro’s stat line is his 42.9 percent strikeout rate with 30 strikeouts in 70 plate appearances.
More than half of his plate appearances have ended in one of the three true outcomes, which is Adam Dunn-esque. The fact that Alfaro is still hitting .231 is a feat itself.

C Andrew Knapp – Catching has been a weak spot on the team as a whole as Knapp has a meager .170/.264/.213 line this season. His 31 wRC+ is the worst on the team besides Jesmuel Valentin, who has one plate appearance.

RF Nick Williams – Williams has been the one outfielder who has really struggled this year. His OPS of .558 only tops Knapp among position players. Williams recorded his first hit Tuesday night since April 16, which still only brings his season batting average up to .200. He may truly become the fourth outfielder if things don’t change soon.

SP Ben Lively – Lively was wildly inconsistent before landing on the disabled list, which can be observed just by looking at his last two starts. He went six one-run innings April 20 against the Pirates, then was bombarded for seven runs six days later against the Diamondbacks. He may lose his rotation spot to Jerad Eickhoff when the latter comes off the disabled list.

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