The Phillies need to invest in professional hitting
Another common problem across not only the series against the New York Mets but almost the whole second half of 2024 was the uncompetitive at-bats at points. While hitting a baseball is the most difficult thing to do in all of sports, the approach and results that some Phillies hitters were taking during that time were unfathomable.
The Phillies ranked sixth-worst in baseball in chase rate this past season at 30.3 percent, only two points behind the major league-leading Miami Marlins. Combine that with the sixth-lowest chase contact percentage, and you have a recipe for bad-looking swings. The above-average chase percentages were emphasized by the incredibly bad swings Phillies hitters took, making fans even more aware and upset at the fact.
Bryce Harper said the Phillies need to stop chasing at the plate.@KYWNewsradio pic.twitter.com/2MdiD7ebo4
— Dave Uram (@MrUram) October 6, 2024
What the Phillies need to invest in this offseason is more "professional" type hitting. The approach of swinging hard, so if you make contact, you do damage, is not working. While there can be players on the roster who do that and excel at it, when five or more of your hitters are similar, there becomes too large of a portion of the lineup that can slump at once.
Players with approaches like Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm at points split the lineup and allow for more strikeouts from the run producers. Contact first with an emphasis on driving the gap instead of trying to elevate and shortening the zone could help with the Phillies improve on the 3.61 runners left in scoring position per game, the third-worst mark in MLB.
This kind of investment needs to be made from within, in how the team goes about its at-bats. Hitting coach Kevin Long needs to work with hitters like Rojas, Turner, and Marsh to get back to the ball-in-play mindset that has made them outstanding during stretches of their careers.
“I think we really have to get them to buy into using the entire field," manager Rob Thomson said about the team's plate approach in his season-ending press conference. "Everybody talks about chase rate. I think just doing that will cut down on chase rate.”
The Phillies can get free added value this way while also looking outward for an on-base hitter through trade or free agency.