Phillies: Most underrated players of the 2000s

Many of the Phillies who set the stage for the ’08 run are easily forgotten

Phillies baseball in the early 2000s was a time to forget. From 2000-06 the team won 85 games five times but never made the playoffs. We saw the ends of the Terry Francona and Larry Bowa eras. Several high-profile players like Scott Rolen and Jim Thome came and went.

By the end of the decade we saw the greatest era in Phillies baseball history with homegrown stars like Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, and many more.

But those big stars took the limelight off some of the Phillies other productive players who helped either carry the team to a championship or performed well when times were tough. Here’s a look back at five of the most underappreciated Phillies of the 2000s.

Ryan Madson

Ryan Madson filled so many roles for the Phillies and was consistently one of their better relievers for the majority of his nine years in Philadelphia.

A ninth round pick out of Valley View High School in Moreno Valley, California in 1998, Madson initially came up in 2003 and established himself as a big league reliever the following season. He won nine games out of the bullpen in 2004 with a 2.34 ERA in 52 relief appearances.

In 2006 the Phillies gave Madson a shot at a starting job by giving him 17 starts, but he ultimately found his role back in the ‘pen.

From 2007-09 Madson had a 3.13 ERA in 193 relief appearances, and in 2008 he earned the nickname “the bridge to Lidge,” as the team’s setup man. That season the Phillies put Madson in the game in so many high-pressure situations.

Madson entered games with 37 inherited runners that season and only allowed 13 to score, one of the lowest rates among National League pitchers who inherited as many runners that season.

During the decade Madson led Phillies relievers with 37 wins and 421 strikeouts, which exclude his numbers as a starter.

Brett Myers

Phillies fans remember the great rotation of 2009 and those that came after, but they forget some of the guys who came before the Four Aces.

During the decade Brett Myers led all Phillies pitchers with 73 wins and 986 strikeouts, and he did it in multiple roles as a starter, reliever, and closer.

Philadelphia drafted Myers 12th overall in the 1999 MLB June Amateur Draft from Englewood High School in Jacksonville, Florida. He came up in 2002 almost a month before his 21st birthday only to pitch eight two-hit innings, the only run allowed by Myers being a Mark Bellhorn home run.

From 2003-06 Myers won 50 games as a starter, but a rough start to the 2007 season led to a change. Myers transitioned into the bullpen and became a setup man and closer, saving 21 games in his new role.

Some forget that Myers was the guy on the mound when the Phillies clinched the 2007 National League East crown and their first playoff berth since 1993.

That curveball was the start of the greatest run in Phillies history.

In 2008 Myers rejoined the rotation to win 10 games with two complete games and a shutout.

Myers filled so many roles for the Phillies in his eight years with the team and is a forgotten piece of the team’s resurgence.

Randy Wolf

It’s unfortunate that Randy Wolf, a guy who pitched for so many bad Phillies teams, couldn’t be a member of the team that ultimately won it all.

Wolf was originally drafted by the Phillies in the 2nd round of the 1997 MLB June Amateur Draft from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. Like Myers, Wolf jumped into the big leagues quickly, making his major league debut about two years after he was drafted.

In his first three starts Wolf allowed only four earned runs and struck out 21 batters in 20.2 innings. As a rookie he’d strike out 116 batters in 22 games, all but one being a start. His 116 strikeouts were the seventh most for a Phillies rookie pitcher since 1920.

Over his next four seasons Wolf won double-digit games and twice led the team in wins, including a 16-win All-Star season in 2003. In 2004 he pitched the first game

Tommy John surgery cost Wolf several more successful seasons in Philadelphia and he moved on from the team as a player in 2007. He’d go on to pitch for the Dodgers, Brewers, Orioles, Marlins, Astros, Padres, and Tigers and win 133 games in 16 seasons.

During the 2000s Wolf was second among all Phillies pitchers with 63 wins, 11 complete games,  and seven shutouts. The eight shutouts he tossed during the decade were tied for sixth in all of baseball.

In 2016 Wolf retired as a member of the Phillies and recognized the fan base and his unique fan section “The Wolf Pack.”

Pat Burrell

Despite being the number one overall pick and one of the leading home run hitters in Phillies history, I consider Pat Burrell to be an underrated member of the Phillies championship run.

The Phillies have been a historically unsuccessful franchise and were the first franchise in any major American sport to reach 10,000 all-time losses. As ugly as things were, they were (of course) never bad enough to have the number one pick. Then, 1997 happened.

A lot happened in 1997. Scott Rolen won Rookie of the Year, Curt Schilling made his first All-Star game, and the Phillies had the worst record in baseball with just 68 wins under first year manager Terry Francona.

With their first ever number one overall pick, the Phillies took Pat Burrell out of the University of Miami.

Burrell spent less than two whole seasons in the minors before coming up in 2000 and finishing fourth in the Rookie of the Year. He hit 18 home runs with 79 RBI and 27 doubles in 111 games.

Over the next eight years Burrell would be a consistent threat in the middle of the Phillies lineup with a beautiful swing that produced towering home runs. He hit at least 21 home runs in each of those seasons and hit 30 home runs four times.

Twice Burrell received MVP votes, finishing in seventh place thanks to a 32 home run, 117 RBI season in 2005.

Burrell went from being the youngest guy in the room for one of baseball’s worst teams to being the grizzled vet by the time they were championship contenders. In 2008 he hit 33 home runs with 33 doubles, playing nearly every regular season game.

In game five of the World Series, coming out of the multi-day rain delay, Burrell led the game off with a double off the ballpark’s deepest wall and was taken out for a pinch-runner. It’d be his final hit as a Phillie.

After winning the World Series Burrell would lead the parade down Broad Street.

Because he wasn’t here for the rest of the run, it feels like Burrell is the forgotten man when you talk about the Phillies homegrown talent.  During the 2000s Burrell led all Phillies with 251 home runs, 827 RBI, 785 walks, and was second with 1,166 hits.

He was one of the biggest driving forces behind the offense and should receive more recognition for his role on that championship team.