6 Phillies-Marlins differences that explain recent struggles
The Marlins are a lot closer to a complete baseball team.
Overall roster construction seems to also be way different between the Phillies and Marlins. Starting with the infield, Miguel Rojas ranks in the 91st percentile for Outs Above Average. The same goes for Jazz Chisholm at second base. Brian Anderson can also pick it a little at third, ranking in the 82nd percentile for Outs Above Average.
The Marlins prioritize defense a lot more than the Phillies. Didi Gregorius, Jean Segura, and Alec Bohm at their respective positions simply don’t compare to the Marlins trio.
In the outfield, Corey Dickerson and Starling Marte are two guys with career OPS+’s over 110.
The Marlins starting pitching is really good with Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Rodgers, Pablo Lopez, and even someone like Cody Poteet — who has had three good starts to begin his career. The Marlins also have a loaded bullpen with guys like Yimi Garcia, Adam Cimber, Dylan Floro, Richard Bleier, and Ross Detwiler all having ERA+s above league average.
The Marlins may not have many household names, but they are a lot closer to a complete baseball team than the Phillies. While Andrew McCutchen, Odubel Herrera, and Bryce Harper are better than what the Marlins have, the Marlins — when healthy — can be closer than fans may think with all of their projected starters above 100 OPS+.
The Phillies starting pitching has been a mess — whether it’s Chase Anderson, Matt Moore, or whoever else they try. Vince Velasquez has been good, but that goes along with Aaron Nola being disappointing the first two months of the year. Zach Eflin has been about league average with a 3.84 ERA, and a 102 ERA+. Zack Wheeler has been carrying the pitching staff so far this year.