Phillies: In Praise of Gabe; Appreciating Gabe Kapler
Gabe Kapler got blamed for everything that went wrong with the Phillies last year. This year they’re doing well, so let’s give him credit.
Gabe Kapler‘s managerial career got off to one of the worst starts in baseball history. In his first game managing the Phillies, he pulled starter Aaron Nola after 5.1 shutout innings and 68 pitches and handed the 5-0 lead over to his bullpen, which promptly dropped it and shattered it into a million pieces. They ended up losing 8-5.
A few days later, he failed Baseball 101, no, Baseball 1.0 when he summoned Hoby Milner into a game… before he was warmed up. Callers into local talk shows were calling for him to be fired less than a month into his managerial career, and some bloggers (who shall remain nameless) reported that he had been fired.
Kapler improved after a rocky first month, leading the Phillies to first place at the All-Star Break, but the wheels fell off from there. The team fell off the rails in September and finished 80-82.
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Frustration grew in the clubhouse, Carlos Santana smashed a TV and rumors swirled that the team had quit on Kapler. He entered the offseason facing questions about his ability to lead the team, and rumors about his job security.
At some point in the offseason, the real Kapler must’ve been stabbed in some back alley and replaced by a clone, because this season’s Kapler has been a completely different manager.
Last year, Kapler routinely gave his starting pitchers an early hook; this year, he’s already allowed Zach Eflin to finish two complete games, and let Cole Irvin pitch seven innings in his MLB debut.
Kapler incessantly tinkered with his lineup last season, rearranging it seemingly every day. This year, he’s used the same lineup almost every time his starters have been healthy. Todd Zolecki pointed out that Kapler used the same lineup six days in a row to start this year, but didn’t have the same lineup in any six games all of last season.
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Managerial performance is one of the few things modern baseball stats haven’t figured out how to evaluate (Get on that math nerds!), but there are a few things they can track.
Baseball-Reference does track substitutions, and that’s one of Kapler’s most noteworthy stats. Last year, Kapler used 4.7 pitchers per game, tied for first among the 27 managers who managed an entire season last year. This year, that’s down about half a pitcher (sounds weird when I saw it that way) to 4.3.
Kapler also used the sacrifice bunt (non-pitchers) a total of four times last year, dead last in the league, and attempted to steal a base in eight percent of his opportunities.
This year, his steal rate has gone all way down to five percent, but he’s already used three sacrifice bunts.
Overall, it just seems like Kapler trusts his players more this year. Last year, it felt like he under-managed the clubhouse, and over-managed the game. He’s changed a lot, but some things have stayed the same and will probably never change. He’ll always be a player-friendly manager, and I think hell itself will freeze over before he names a closer, and that’s alright because that’s just who Kapler is.
Last year when things went wrong, people were (rightly) blaming Kapler, and calling for his head. This year, he seems to have figured it out and has managed his team to another first-place start, but no one has said a word of praise about him.
An MLB manager is kind of like an NHL defenseman or NFL offensive tackle; if you don’t hear their name a lot, they’re probably doing well. I feel like this has been the case with Kapler this year, but I think we need to take a moment to recognize and appreciate what he’s done. He’s done a fantastic job of learning from last year’s mistakes and has stopped trying to micromanage his team.
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Kapler has been given a talented baseball club, and he’s managing it well, taking a step back, letting his players play, and winning baseball games. Since no one else has said, I might as well be the one, “Good job, Gabe!”