Phillies: 3 Overperformers and Underperformers of First Half
With the halfway break nearing completion, we look at three Phillies who have overperformed expectations and three who have underwhelmed so far this season.
The Philadelphia Phillies have a 44-44 record at the halfway break, good enough for second in the National League East.
While it’s no surprise that players like Bryce Harper and Zack Wheeler are doing well and players like Vince Velasquez and Héctor Neris are struggling, there have been some surprises, for better or worse, so far this year.
Here are three Phillies who have overperformed and three who have underperformed through the first 88 games.
Overperformer 1: Ronald Torreyes
When Torreyes was signed to a minor-league contract during the off-season, the move could’ve been seen as nothing more than depth. The infielder appeared in only 11 games total over the 2019 and 2020 seasons, where he played for the Minnesota Twins and the Phillies, going 4-for-23, with a lone RBI.
With Didi Gregorius missing considerable time due to injury, Torreyes had an opportunity and made the most of it: in 42 games, he has three home runs, 20 RBI, and a .276/.308/.402 slash line. These numbers stack up well against his best career seasons in which he appeared in more than 41 games.
His three home runs match his total from 2017, when he played in 108 games for the New York Yankees, while his RBI total is nearly triple that of 2018, when he had seven RBI in 41 games with the Yankees.
Some of Torreyes’ best performances this season have also come against good teams. He hit a solo home run and a two-RBI double against the San Francisco Giants on June 19, and hit a three-run homer against the Boston Red Sox on July 11, which ended up being the difference-maker in a 5-4 win.
It’s worth noting that some of Torreyes’ multi-hit games have come against formidable opponents; two three-hit games against the Red Sox, a three-hit game against the New York Mets, and two-hit games against the Giants, Yankees, Nationals, and Braves.
Overperformer 2: Brad Miller
Miller signed a one-year deal during the offseason to re-join the Phillies, whom he played in 66 games for in 2019. He hit a respectable 12 home runs, 21 RBI, and .263/.331/.610 in that stint with Philadelphia.
Miller started seven of his first 18 games this season before teammate injuries led to him starting 21 of his next 28 contests, hitting .260/.345/.481, with four home runs and 13 RBI, in that stretch.
Overall, he has nine home runs, 25 RBI, and a .250/.339/.462 slash line in 71 games this season. The home run and RBI numbers are similar to his seven home runs and 25 RBI in 14 fewer at-bats last year, though his hitting-for-average is noticeably improved beyond his .232/.357/.451 slash line with the St. Louis Cardinals.
He’s had to step into a larger role than expected in 2021, and he ranks well against teammates in key categories. He has more home runs than J.T. Realmuto, Alec Bohm, and Jean Segura in fewer at-bats, with a better batting average than Bohm, Rhys Hoskins, and Andrew McCutchen.
Fans will also remember his three-homer game against the Chicago Cubs for a while, when he drove in five of the team’s eight runs in an 8-0 victory on July 8. Prior to his big night, no Phillies player had homered three times in a game since 2008.
Overperformer 3: Ranger Suárez
Suárez entered this season coming off of a 2020 campaign where the novel coronavirus kept him out for over a month before he struggled in three appearances, giving up 10 hits, four walks and nine runs in four innings. He only struck out one of the 26 batters he faced.
Suárez looked good as a starter during his path to the majors, including a 2.76 ERA in 12 Double-A starts and a 2.74 ERA in nine Triple-A starts in 2018, before making his major-league debut that year and posting a 5.40 ERA over four games.
He started 2019 with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, struggling to a 2-2 record and 5.68 ERA in seven starts, but looked good the remainder of the year with the Phillies, posting a 6-1 record and 3.14 ERA in 37 relief appearances.
While he’s had success in the past, limited playing time and struggles in 2020 made it hard to set expectations for how he’d do this year. But it didn’t take long for Suárez to prove his worth.
Suárez went 20 1/3 innings without giving up a single earned run to start this season. The last two of those 11 outings saw him pick up the wins, going three innings in each game, following starters Spencer Howard and Zach Eflin.
His next six games saw him give up four runs (three earned) in 8 2/3 innings, posting a 1-2 record and picking up a blown save. But he’s since rebounded, pitching six scoreless innings in his last four outings, with a 1-0 record and two saves. Over his last eight appearances dating back to June 19, he has only allowed one earned run and has a 0.73 ERA over 12 1/3 innings.
Overall, Suárez has a 0.77 ERA and 0.743 WHIP in 21 games, by far the brightest spot in a very shaky bullpen.
Underperformer 1: Aaron Nola
Nola entered the season as one of the Phillies’ two best starters, but his inconsistency has made it hard to count on an ace-like outing. He has a 6-5 record, 4.53 ERA, 1.214 WHIP and 126 strikeouts through 18 starts.
Those numbers aren’t horrible. His record is tied with Zack Wheeler, while his ERA is third-best in the rotation and his WHIP and strikeouts are both second-best. Still, his ERA is high for a reason, as he’s underperformed in multiple outings, often after pitching a gem.
Nola gave up just two hits while striking out 10, in a complete-game shutout on April 18 before giving up four runs off of six hits and a walk in seven innings on April 24, albeit in Colorado. He pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings while giving up just three hits and a walk, on June 13 before giving up six runs in only 2 1/3 innings on June 19.
Nola pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out 12, on June 25 before giving up seven runs off of nine hits in 4 2/3 innings at home on June 30. Overall, he gave up three or more earned runs in 11 of 18 games, while going less than six innings in half of his starts.
While he’s still the next-best behind Wheeler in the Phillies’ rotation, there’s a lot of space between them, and Nola’s inconsistency is reason for concern and not what fans expect from the former Cy Young Award finalist.
Underperformer 2: Alec Bohm
As one of the Phillies’ top prospects prior to his major league debut, Bohm received a lot of hype last season and did not disappoint, hitting four home runs, 23 RBI, slashing .338/.400/.481 in his first 44 games and finishing second in NL Rookie of the Year voting.
Bohm’s most recent experience prior to his MLB debut was a 2019 season split between A, Advanced-A, and Double-A, where he hit 21 home runs, 80 RBI, and .305/.378/.518 in 125 games. With improvement at various levels and a strong start in the big leagues, it was easy to expect a good season from Bohm as the regular starter at third base.
So far this year, Bohm has six home runs, 41 RBI, and a .243/.298/.343 slash line. He recorded multiple hits in just 19 of his 85 games while going hitless in 36 games.
Bohm ranks third on the team in RBIs and hits, but has appeared in the second-most games behind Rhys Hoskins, which could be a large part of the reason. Hoskins is the only Phillie with more strikeouts than Bohm, who has 86 in 85 games. He also leads a category where it’s better to be last, with a team-high 11 errors, and ranks last in wins above replacement, with a -1.0 WAR.
If Bohm can improve from his underperforming first half, it will have to wait a bit longer. He tested positive for the novel coronavirus just before the All-Star break, which will sideline him for at least the first handful of games in the second half.
Underperformer 3: Brandon Kintzler
Kintzler signed a minor-league deal during the off-season, though it seemed likely from the beginning that he’d make the opening day roster, with the potential of playing a key role in a revived Phillies bullpen.
The veteran reliever looked good in his 11th season last year, with a 2.22 ERA, 1.315 WHIP, and 12 saves in 24 games with the Miami Marlins. That followed a 2019 season where he posted a 2.68 ERA and 1.018 WHIP in 62 games with the Chicago Cubs.
Unfortunately for the Phillies, Kintzler has not been able to replicate those performances. Through 24 games this year, he has a 7.61 ERA – his worst since his rookie season – and 1.732 WHIP, a far cry from his performance with the Marlins, though his 18 strikeouts are four more than last season.
Kintzler got off to an okay start, giving up three runs (two earned) in 5 2/3 innings, through his first five outings. But he struggled after that, giving up 15 runs off of 26 hits and four walks in 12 1/3 innings and 15 games. He managed to pick up a pair of wins and holds while being credited with a loss and two blown saves during this stretch.
A strained neck then sidelined Kintzler for about a month. He’s given up three runs in 5 2/3 innings, through four games, since he returned on July 5.