Biggest Philadelphia Phillies winners and losers in May

Who were the biggest winners and losers on the Phillies in May?

It’s officially a new month of baseball and the Philadelphia Phillies have to be among the happiest teams to be able to put May behind them.

After all, the Phillies came into May with a .500 record and left it as a third-place laughingstock with a 21-29 record and 12 1/2-game deficit. They capped off the month by losing five in a row, including a weekend sweep by the New York Mets.

Yes, on the whole, the Phillies were big-time losers last month, baseball being a team sport and whatnot. Aside from a few prestigious individual awards, the collective results are the only thing that matters in this game, and after nearly two months of playing time, the Phillies are looking like also-rans once again; after going 11-11 in April, they went 10-18 in May.

That’s right, fewer wins in a month with more games than the last.

They also only hit one more double, walked less, and struck out 66 more times. What a difference six games makes.

But before June ball officially gets underway, we have to declare the biggest winners and losers from the month of May:

Winner: Bryce Harper

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first. Bryce Harper lived up to his reigning MVP title in May and did so with a small tear in his UCL. He might not be able to play the outfield until after the All-Star break – and no way around it, that’s a huge loss for this defensively-challenged team – but he’s making up for it at the plate.

Harper played 22 games in April and got off to a slow start, hitting .253/.319/.470 with a .789 OPS, which sounds even worse when you remember that as the 2021 NL MVP, he led all of Major League Baseball with a .615 slugging percentage and 1.044 OPS. All in all, not a great April for Harper.

Then the calendar flipped to May and Harper flipped the switch. He raised his batting average by almost a hundred points, hitting .352/.388/.692 with a 1.080 OPS over 22 games. Despite missing time after getting a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection, he still managed to more than double his April home-run count, collect 11 more hits, go 3-0 in stolen bases, and strike out less.

Hopefully, Harper keeps it up. He might not be focused on individual accolades, but it looks like that’s all he’s going to get.

Loser: Joe Girardi

After how May turned out, Joe Girardi getting fired feels less like a debate and more of an inevitability.

While fans definitely want him gone and he certainly doesn’t feel like the right fit for the team, it’s important to remember that many of the Phillies’ problems existed before he got here, and will likely persist after he’s gone. After all, firing Gabe Kapler, Pete Mackanin, and Ryne Sandberg didn’t magically fix this team, either.

Just don’t replace Girardi with Lenny Dykstra.

Winner: Zack Wheeler

After a slow and careful spring, Zack Wheeler is back in Cy Young-contender form.

He made four starts in April totaling 18 2/3 innings and allowed 12 earned runs for a 5.79 ERA, though most of those came in a seven-run shelling by the Miami Marlins. He only struck out 18 of 84 batters, who hit .247/.345/.384 with a .729 OPS when he was on the mound.

But in May, Wheels looked like himself again; over five starts totaling 32 2/3 innings, he allowed only six earned runs and struck out 40 of 127 batters faced. Lineups hit .231/.268/.331 with a meager .598 OPS against him.

He’s also leading the National League with a 2.38 FIP and 0.4 HR9, which matches his career-best set in 2020.

Loser: Kyle Schwarber

After starting his Phillies career with a home run in his first at-bat on Opening Day, Kyle Schwarber is not doing well. He is hitting better in May, but that’s not saying very much, considering his April numbers were .169/.298/.423/.720 and he hit .202/.310/.414/.724 in May. Over seven more games in the second month of the season, Schwarber hit the same amount of doubles as the first (3) and only one more home run, but drover in fewer runs. He struck out 38 times in 27 games.

The Phillies clearly thought that reuniting Schwarber with his favorite hitting coach Kevin Long would be the ultimate cheat code, but so far, that hasn’t been the case at all.

Winner: Aaron Nola

Aaron Nola is in a contract year and he’s pitching like he wants to get paid. The soon-to-be-29-year-old pitched well in April (five starts, 3.90 ERA) and even better in May (five starts, 3.27 ERA).

A few things stand out about Nola’s improvement in May. He pitched more innings than in April, a sign of improvement upon one of the main critiques about his 2021 performance, as he often failed to go deep into games; 13 of his 32 starts were five innings or less and only five were seven innings or more. In his last start of May, Nola pitched 8+ innings for the first time since August 21, 2021. He only had three starts of 8+ innings last season.

While Nola allowed more hits in May, he allowed the same number of earned runs in both months (12) and one less home run. Opposing batters’ OPS against him fell by nearly 100 points, and their on-base and slugging percentages also decreased substantially.

Nola’s only shutout start of the season came in April, but on the whole, his May was markedly better. Too bad the same can’t be said for his team.

Loser: James Norwood

Joe Girardi’s bullpen management has been questioned a lot over the last few weeks, and it’s hard to tell exactly how much of the bullpen’s struggles are due to his leadership, and how much is actually failed execution.

James Norwood has struggled more than almost anyone on the pitching staff. He finished April in excellent standing; six of his seven appearances were shutouts, and in five of them, opponents did not record a hit or draw a walk. He only allowed two earned runs on April 18, making his ERA for the month a respectable 2.82.

In May, he fell apart. Over his first two appearances, he allowed a combined six earned runs and only recorded one out in each. Dating back to May 17, he’s allowed runs in three of five appearances. While he struck out 13 batters over a total of eight innings in May, his ERA is 12.38 over 10 games. Home runs aren’t his issue; he only allowed two of them. The clear difference between Norwood’s April and May is more hits and walks. He allowed 15 hits and issued six walks in the latter month.

Unsurprisingly, Girardi hasn’t used him since Saturday, May 28.