Phillies were able to right the ship with their defense

The defense was a significant issue for the Phillies last year, but they have managed to turn around what was a historically bad unit.

A vital criticism of the 2018 Phillies was how willing they were to stick players at any position, no matter how poorly they played defense. The most notable examples of this were playing Rhys Hoskins every day in left field and dubbing Scott Kingery the starting shortstop after J.P. Crawford‘s multiple injuries.

While the team preached having versatile players, that versatility didn’t mean much if those players were not playing good defense. That was the case as Philadelphia finished the season with -146 defensive runs saved, the worst total in the league and the worst in franchise history since the stat’s inception in 2003.

For the team to get better this year, the defense had to be a significant component of this. TBOH contributor Matthew Landmesser wrote during spring training that the club must “right the ship” on defense this season. With a month left in the season, it appears that they indeed have.

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Mark Simon of Sports Info Solutions wrote for The Athletic (subscription required) about which teams have made the most considerable improvements defensively from last year to this year, using defensive runs saved as a guide. As it turns out, no team improved more than Philadelphia as they have 14 defensive runs saved heading into Friday night’s game.

Each position had a negative defensive runs saved total last year, while only four do this year.

Six different positions have seen an improvement of 18 or more defensive runs saved while only one (first base) has decreased.

The most significant shift was getting Hoskins out of left field and back at his natural position of first base. While his defense there still isn’t up to par, he is hurting the team far less there than in left field. Andrew McCutchen, Jay Bruce, Adam Haseley, and even Vince Velasquez have all contributed positively at the position this year.

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A similar story is playing out in right field with Bryce Harper taking over the reins from Nick Williams. Harper’s defense was a concern coming into the year as he had his worst defensive season. Harper has since quelled those concerns with three defensive runs saved this season.

Further, J.T. Realmuto has been a Gold Glove-caliber catcher this year and a force to be reckoned with guarding the basepaths. Jorge Alfaro was average at the position last year, but Wilson Ramos and Andrew Knapp weighed things down. With Realmuto catching 971.2 of a possible 1,186 innings this year, he has helped vastly improve the team’s defense behind the plate.

While Jean Segura hasn’t been a defensive stalwart, he is still faring far better than the myriad of shortstops the team tried out last season. Kingery has only played 83.1 innings at shortstop this season, which is helping the total immensely.

It hasn’t just been newcomers helping the defense improve as Cesar Hernandez is fielding second base much better this year compared to last year. He had -12 defensive runs saved in 2018, a career-low, but he is on pace to post a career-high this season with six.

Of course, while the defense is improved, it is by no means exemplary. Philadelphia ranks 15th in defensive runs saved this year, only slightly above the league average and median in the category. Plus, an improved defense doesn’t matter when your pitching staff is giving up more home runs.

Still, the fact that the Phillies no longer have a historically bad defense is one positive thing to come out of the year. Now they can spend the offseason focusing on new issues rather than recurring ones.