Phillies: Three players who will breakout in 2020
Now is the time for some of the Phillies young players to breakout.
With a new coaching staff and the growing motivation to win, the Phillies hope to see several of their young players have breakout years.
Here are three players who are on watch to have those breakout seasons under new manager Joe Girardi in 2020 for the Phillies.
Adam Haseley, CF
The most obvious selection on this list, center fielder Adam Haseley is primed to truly have a breakout season in 2020. Not only did Haseley shows flashes of brilliance on both offense and defense last year, but as of right now it’s looking he will be the everyday center fielder. All the stars are lining up for him to seriously increase his production.
Haseley was an impromptu call-up during last year’s campaign, swiftly being streamlined from AA to the majors in order to fill the hole created by Andrew McCutchen’s knee injury. At just 23 years old and only having been in the Phillies system for two years, this was quite a bit to ask from the lefty outfielder.
However, Haseley did nothing but impress. In his first month with the team he hit .278 and knocked in 11 RBIs. Haseley’s “out of nowhere” production was a huge boost to a team desperately trying to stay afloat in the NL Wildcard race.
Haseley finished the season slashing .266/.324/.396. He hit 5 homers and knocked in 26 RBIs on the year, he also had 5 steals and 30 runs scored.
Outside of his above average batting, Haseley also routinely made hit-saving and run-saving plays out in center field. This isn’t blind optimism either, the numbers back it up. Haseley had the 17th best WAR among all rookies last season. He was just 0.4 points behind HR derby champion Vladimir Guerrero Jr. despite having over 200 less at bats.
With Haseley surrounded by a better coaching staff, while also receiving more regular at bats. The numbers all point to the youngster having a true breakout year in 2020.
Ranger Suarez, RP
The Phillies bullpen was an absolute dumpster fire last season. They recorded the 8th worst ERA in the NL while also having one of the highest BAA’s in the entire MLB (.258). The team regularly blew potential wins late in games and failed to ever establish any guys fans could truly trust.
The team suffered an excruciating amount of injuries to the relief pitcher department in 2019. Projected crucial pieces to their bullpen like David Robertson, Tommy Hunter, Pat Neshek, Seranthony Dominguez, Edubray Ramos, and Victor Arano all missed a majority of the season. By the end of the year, the front office was full on bargain buying in guys such as Mike Morin and Jared Hughes.
Most of the Phillies backup relievers failed in the absence of those big names, however, one guy who actually showed some life was second year player Ranger Suarez. In 48.2 innings of work, Suarez posted a 3.14 ERA and struck out 42 batters. His 3.50 K/W ratio would have ranked second best on the team had he pitched more innings.
Suarez doesn’t necessarily have elite “stuff” (his fastball sits around 92-93mph), but he does provide an interesting dynamic to the team. A starter in the minor leagues, Suarez has the ability to really stretch out his outings across multiple innings. For a team with as shaky of a starting rotation as the Phillies, this should prove to be very useful.
Suarez is also a much desired “lefty reliever”. Considering the Phillies top two projected relief pitchers for next season are both right-handed (Dominguez, Neris), Suarez should expect to see quite a bit of action in the earlier innings. A spot he should excel at.
Rhys Hoskins, 1B
Rhys Hoskins had one of the worst second halves of baseball we’ve all seen in a very, very long time. Following the All-Star break, the Phillies first baseman hit an abysmal .180 at the plate. He drove in just 26 runs and pretty much lost all ability to hit the long ball (9 HRs).
During this stretch, Hoskins got into this nasty habit of taking a ton of pitches. It didn’t matter if there were runners on base or not, it looked like all Hoksins ever wanted to do was take walks. This is pretty blatantly reflected by Hoskins leading the entire National League in walks (116).
Hoskins lack of hitting ability in the crucial months of August and September were a huge reason the Phillies never ended up sneaking into that second Wild Card spot. It got so bad for Rhys at one point that former manager Gabe Kapler even experimented with running him at the leadoff spot(?).
Philadelphia Phillies
Kapler and his staff definitely emphasized the strategy of “seeing a lot of pitches” in 2019, and it’s very reasonable to say that this had a very negative effect on Hoskins along with a few of the other hitters on the roster.
Hoskins has already proven he can hit for power in the major leagues. His entrance into the show back in 2017 was one of the most impressive displays of power we’ve seen by a rookie in a long time (18 HRs in 50 games). Hoskins is a slugger, plain and simple.
Similar to Haseley, the arrival of a new (and far superior) staff in Joe Girardi and Joe Dillon should greatly help the struggling infielder. One of Girardi’s top priorities this offseason will no doubt be trying to get Hoskins back to his old ways for 2020.
There’s very few scenarios where the Phillies make the playoffs without Hoskins having a monster season. He’s the glue that makes this whole lineup work. Realistically, Hoskins “breaking out” is far more unlikely when compared to the other two previously mentioned names. However, Rhys’ development this year into an All-Star level cleanup hitter is without a doubt the most important.