Phillies: Five players who overachieved in 2019
By David Esser
In a season of disappointment, only a handful of Phillies overperformed.
The Phillies 2019 season was riddled with disappointment, frustration, and underachievement from a wide variety of players. Potential franchise cornerstones in Rhys Hoskins and Nick Pivetta took major steps back, and guys like Vince Velasquez and Maikel Franco never took that next leap forward.
However, in a desperate attempt to remain somewhat optimistic this offseason, I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on players who actually exceeded expectations.
Here are five players who went above and beyond in their duties this year.
Brad Miller
Good ol’ Bamboo Brad Miller. What an absolutely crazy story this guy has. The Phillies picked up the veteran utility man from the Yankees back on June 13, sending over cash considerations to complete the deal.
He made his debut a few days later, and his role on the team quickly became apparent. He struggled mightily early on, hitting .120 in July and .182 in August and it seemed that he would be nothing more than a veteran presence in a struggling clubhouse.
However, this absolute lunatic of an individual went on to crush eight homers in the month of September, batting .327 with an OPS of .800.
Although the Phillies ultimately failed in their postseason aspirations, Miller did everything humanly possible to keep the team afloat deep into the season.
Adam Haseley
At the ripe age of just 23, Adam Haseley registered 26 RBIs, five homers, 14 walks, an OPS of .720 and slashed .266/.324/.396. He had the fifth-highest batting average on the roster and ranked above the league average in both fielding percentage and range factor per 9 innings.
Considering Haseley wasn’t even on the main roster to start the season, I would argue all these numbers are quite impressive.
Haseley played so well towards the end of the season (.786 OPS in the month of September) that he’s widely being talked about as a lock for the 2020 opening day CF job.