These Philadelphia Phillies all-time offensive leaders may surprise you

Jimmy Rollins is the Phillies all-time leader in at-bats, hits, doubles, power-speed, and outs made

Jimmy Rollins dethroned Mike Schmidt as the franchise (regular-season) hits leader, and what’s more impressive is that he amassed 2,306 hits in fewer seasons than it took Schmidt to get his 2,234.

Rollins spent 15 seasons with the Phillies and played 2,090 games, meaning he averaged 1.103 hits per game. By comparison, Schmidt averaged 0.92 hits per game, which is still insanely impressive.

During his many years in a Phillies uniform, Rollins also led MLB or the NL in several categories, including games played, at-bats, runs scored, triples, and stolen bases, in various seasons. Unsurprisingly, he’s now on the Hall of Fame ballot.

Billy Hamilton led the Phillies in batting average, on-base %, and stolen bases

It’s impressive that Billy Hamilton remains on top after over a century, as he’s about as original as Phillies get.

The Hall of Famer played for the Phillies from 1890-95, and his .360 AVG, .468 OBP, and 510 stolen bases remain unbeaten. In fact, he stole 100+ bases four times in his 14-year career.

No other Phillies baserunner has ever swiped more than 453 (Jimmy Rollins), so it’s hard to see anyone ever stealing the top spot from Hamilton. Of course, as evidenced by those stolen-base numbers, baseball was quite different when Hamilton played, but it’s impressive nonetheless.

Elmer Flick is the Phillies’ all-time leader in OPS+

Aside from having a great baseball name (Imagine a broadcaster saying ‘He flicked it!’), Hall of Famer Elmer Flick is the Phillies’ all-time leader with a 156 OPS+. He spent the first four years of his MLB career with the Phillies from 1898-1901.

Ed Delahanty is the Phillies’ all-time leader in triples

Long before Mike Schmidt and Jimmy Rollins took over, Ed Delahanty was one of the first greats in Phillies history. He was the Offensive WAR and RBI leader until Schmidt came along, and came closer than anyone to beating Hamilton’s batting average when they overlapped on the Phillies in the 1890s.

Today, he remains among the top ten in almost every offensive category and is still the triples leader. It’s hard to see anyone tripling more than 158 times in today’s game, and no other Phillie ever surpassed 127.

Gavvy Cravath, the Phillies’ all-time Offensive Win % leader

Outfielder Gavvy Cravath played for the Phillies from 1912-20, and his offensive numbers are kind of absurd.

In the era when pitchers reigned supreme, Cravath led MLB in home runs four times, despite never hitting more than 24. Cravath’s .763 offensive win % edges Delahanty by exactly one point.

Phillies’ modern-day offensive leaders

The funniest (and most painful) leaderboard is hit-by-pitch, and Chase Utley reigns supreme, with 173 HBP during his Phillies career. It’s an insane amount, as proven by the fact that the runner-up is Mike Lieberthal, and he had 88.

Less painful is Utley’s 88.75 stolen-base percentage. He’s one of six players in franchise history with an 80% or better rate of swiping bags.

Jim Thome’s 13.3 at-bats per home run is impressive, but he also had a smaller sample size than many of his fellow Phillies. He only spent four seasons with the Phillies and homered 101 times in 391 games. For reference, Bryce Harper has a 15.1 AB/HR rate now.

Bryce Harper is already the Phillies’ all-time leader in OPS and slugging %

Three seasons into what was at the time the richest contract in North American pro sports history, Bryce Harper is already on the Phillies leaderboards.

His .958 OPS and .556 slugging percentage put him ahead of franchise greats like Chuck Klein, Mike Schmidt, and Thome.

At this point, Harper still has several years of Phillies games ahead of him, so the question is, which categories will he own when his career is over? Total bases, hits, doubles, home runs, strikeouts? He has time to take them all, though hopefully, not strikeouts.