Phillies 2018 season report card: Outfielder Aaron Altherr

2018 was supposed to be the year Aaron Altherr took the next step. Instead, he took a step backward as he lost his place in the Phillies outfield.

2017 was Aaron Altherr’s true breakout season with the Phillies. After starting the year as the fourth outfielder, he quickly took over the reins in the outfield and became a key cog in the lineup. In 107 games, Altherr hit .272 with an .856 OPS, 19 home runs, 65 runs batted in, and 1.7 wins above replacement per Baseball-Reference. His cumulative numbers were hampered by hamstring issues.

With Rhys Hoskins becoming a full-time left fielder, Altherr and Nick Williams were forced into a competition/platoon in right field. Both had good seasons last year but neither was good enough to outright win the position.

Altherr started the year getting most of the playing time in right field, but his poor play and Williams’ success led to a shift. Altherr spent a good part of the season as the fourth outfielder before eventually being demoted to Triple-A. He returned to the majors as a September call-up and actually got a fair amount of playing time due to injuries on the team.

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With that being said, let’s take a look at Altherr’s season.

Positives

I’m really going to have to pull at straws for this one. Altherr posted the best walk rate of his career at 12.6%, but it didn’t really lead to overall better results (more on that later). He finished with a better OPS and wRC+ than his 2016 season, which was an all-around disappointment for him.

Altherr posted some of the best advanced fielding numbers compared to the rest of Philadelphia’s outfielders. Among those with 100 or more innings played. He was the only one with a positive defensive runs saved total and had the best ultimate zone rating.

Negatives

There were plenty of these this year. Altherr’s overall numbers were just bad with a .181/.295/.333 line, 75 wRC+, .628 OPS, and -0.4 Fangraphs wins above replacement. His offensive performance was so bad it warranted a demotion at the end of July just to try to get Altherr back to normal.

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While Altherr did walk more this year, he also struck out much more. His strikeout rate jumped to 31.9% this year, third-highest on the team among Phillies with 200 or more plate appearances. Altherr saw 4.04 pitches per plate appearance, which would have ranked tied for 44th in the league had he qualified. Last year, he saw 3.87 pitches per plate appearances. Him seeing more pitches did lead to more walks this year, but it also led to more strikeouts. Perhaps he is better off being more aggressive at the plate, even though it may not fit the coaching staff’s ideal approach.

Altherr’s power numbers also declined this year. His slugging percentage dropped from .516 to .333 this year.

His isolated power fell from .245 to .152. He hit fewer fly balls and more ground balls. That combined with a decrease in his home run to fly ball ratio led to a lower power output overall.

There was no one pitch Altherr found success against this year either. After posting positive Pitch Info Pitch Values nearly across the board last year, he had negative values for every type of pitch he saw this season. Pitchers weren’t just exploiting one weakness against him; they were finding plenty of them.

Altherr did nothing this year to inspire confidence moving forward. The only things saving him from a failing grade are his okay defense and the fact he had a decent September offensively.

Will he return?

Altherr did nothing to warrant a guaranteed roster spot next year. As with the other outfielders, his roster status will depend on what the team does during the offseason. One thing that could help Altherr is Hoskins potentially moving back to first base full-time. This would leave a spot open for him to take, but that could very well be filled by possible offseason acquisitions.

Altherr is entering his first season of arbitration eligibility. He is projected to make $1.6 million by MLB Trade Rumors. The team will likely take a gamble on him for 2019, hoping he can return to 2017 levels of production. If he cannot, then it’s hard to envision him sticking with the team long-term.