4 Phillies players who underachieved and let us down the most in 2024
Some Phillies just didn't live up to preseason expectations this year.
The Philadelphia Phillies opened the regular season believing they had the right mix of players to contend for a World Series title in 2024. After failing to deliver in seven games versus the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS last October, the Phillies once again fell way short of expectations after dropping three games in the NLDS to the New York Mets in demoralizing fashion this week.
With the offseason beginning much earlier than anyone expected, identifying weak spots on the roster is crucial to making improvements ahead of the 2025 season. There was more than one facet of the game that caused the Phillies to be bounced from the postseason this year, with blame spread evenly between the flat offense and a bullpen that didn't step up when big outs were needed most.
It wasn't all negative this season. There were plenty of bright spots on a Phillies team that posted a record of 95-67, won the NL East Division, and finished with the second-best record in MLB.
For example, slugger Kyle Schwarber set a new MLB record after swatting 15 leadoff home runs while increasing his batting average 51 points from .197 in 2023 to .248 this year. Cristopher Sánchez set new career bests in wins, strikeouts and innings pitched while also being selected to his first All-Star team. Rookie Orion Kerkering showed he had the stuff and makeup to be a high-leverage MLB relief pitcher after posting a solid 2.29 ERA and striking out 74 hitters in 63 innings.
4 Phillies players who underachieved and let us down the most in 2024
That being said, a few players showed concerning signs of regression in 2024, and correcting those flaws will be necessary if the Phillies hope to make a deeper playoff run next season. With the Phillies front office ready to dig into player evaluations with the season now over, it's certain that a handful of players currently under contract will enter the offseason with tailored programs designed to improve performance over the winter months.
Let's take a look at four players who carried high expectations coming into the season and underachieved this season for the Phillies.
Brandon Marsh
Coming into his fourth season at the MLB level, Phillies fans hoped to see Brandon Marsh finally prove that he is more than just a platoon player and was ready to assume a full-time role as the team's everyday left fielder. The charismatic 26-year-old has garnered a cult following in Philadelphia since being acquired at the trade deadline in 2022 from the Los Angeles Angels. With a personality that plays well to the camera, his long hair and chest length beard have made him a fan favorite over the last three seasons.
But baseball is a results-driven business, and while Marsh put up a decent stat line of .249 with 104 hits, 16 home runs, and 60 RBI in 418 at-bats, his numbers against left-handed pitching showed little sign of improvement in 2024. The problem wasn't a case of lacking opportunities either. Against his better judgment, manager Rob Thomson penciled Marsh into the lineup against southpaws for most of the season.
In 90 at-bats against left-handed pitchers this season, Marsh batted a paltry .192, managing 15 hits, one home run, and eight RBI while striking out an alarming 33 times. It was in the team's best interest to see if more reps against lefties would unlock greater pitch recognition, and on that end, the experiment can be categorized as a complete failure. Marsh's failures in these situations are one thing, but Thomson clearly didn't do the team any favors by continuing to trot him out there.
When the Phillies acquired Marsh at the trade deadline in 2022, they parted with top catching prospect Logan O' Hoppe in what was essentially a swap of two young players who both carried significant potential. With Marsh still struggling to hit left-handed pitching, the deal looks lopsided if Marsh's ceiling ultimately stalls with him becoming a full-time platoon player.
While the Phillies could look to swing a deal involving Marsh this offseason while he's still a year away from being arbitration-eligible, the best-case scenario is that Marsh puts in the work to improve against left-handed pitching over the winter.
Taijuan Walker
Taijuan Walker was an obvious choice to be included on this list of Phillies players who let us down in 2024. Unlike Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott before him, there's nothing good about Walker's performance to carry over into next season. This year was a total disaster for Walker from start to finish. Perhaps that might be an understatement.
When the Phillies signed Walker to a $72 million, four-year free agent contract before the 2023 season, many assumed that the veteran pitcher would be a solid addition to a rotation that already featured Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola. Despite a 15-6 record last season, Thomson's faith in Walker waned by the postseason, and Walker was infamously not used at any point in last year's playoffs. When rosters were finalized for the NLDS a week ago, Walker was an easy choice to cross off the list.
Entering spring training, Walker dealt with injuries and a sharp drop in velocity that caused him to begin the 2024 season on the IL. Once activated in late April, Walker was dreadful in 10 starts before landing on the IL again in early June. With his velocity still down and his splitter not effective, the former one-time All-Star looked like a shell of his former self.
Walker's numbers in 15 starts (19 appearances) were the stuff of nightmares. Overall on the season, the 32-year-old right-hander produced a record of 3-7 with a 7.10 ERA in 89 2/3 innings, in addition to allowing 66 earned runs and getting blasted for 24 long balls. The rest of his numbers on the season are not much better. Stating the obvious, this is not what the Phillies were expecting when they signed Walker to a significant financial commitment.
When all was said and done, Walker produced the worst season by a Phillies pitcher in 30 years. The clues were obvious, but Thomson and the Phillies front office continued to send him out to the mound in what is likely the worst decision the Phillies franchise made all season. How the Phillies handle the two years remaining on Walker's contract is still a topic of considerable speculation.
Bryson Stott
Bryson Stott took a major step backward at the plate this season. A well-rounded hitter when he's at his best, Stott never seemed to reach the level of consistency he previously flashed during a breakout 2023 sophomore campaign. Baseball is a game of adjustments, and it became pretty clear the league had the upper hand on Stott in 2024.
Stott saw a 35-point decline in his batting average this season with a drop from .280 last year to .245 in 2024. His slugging percentage also took a nosedive, falling from a career-high of .419 in his second season to .356 this year. Stott has shown the ability to hit for power in the past, but this year saw a decline in power as well, only going yard 11 times in 506 at-bats.
Like teammate Brandon Marsh, Stott also struggled mightily against left-handed pitching this season. In 112 at-bats, Stott could only manage a .223 batting average, with 25 hits, one home run, and 10 RBI while striking out 26 times against southpaws. Unlike Marsh, whose struggles against left-handed pitching were a known problem, Stott had posted a batting average of .282 with 42 hits, three home runs, and 18 RBI in 149 at-bats last season. Stott's rapid decline came as an unwelcome surprise in 2024.
Considering his struggles against left-handed pitching this season, a platoon between Stott and Sosa probably should have become a common occurrence by midseason. In another example of too little too late, Thomson started paying attention to the splits towards the end of the season, and by that time, the damage to Stott's stat line was already done.
While Stott's season at the plate was clearly a letdown, he made up for that inconsistency by playing Gold Glove-caliber defense at second base, in addition to swiping a team-high 32 stolen bases in 35 attempts.
Only 27 years old, Stott likely found himself battling with a learning curve this season, and his 2024 production was more likely an anomaly than a sign of things to come. There's clearly some work to do this offseason for the talented youngster in order to return to the vast offensive potential he flashed in 2023.
José Alvarado
The Phillies entered the season with a new approach to closing games with José Alvarado and Jeff Hoffman splitting the majority of save situations up until midseason. The arrangement had a few hiccups early on, but by June, both relievers had settled into a nice groove when coming out of the Phillies bullpen to close it out in the ninth.
Fast forward to July and August, when Alvarado's production in high-leverage situations fell off drastically. Let's start with July, when Alvarado went 0-2 with an 8.31 ERA after allowing eight earned runs on 11 hits, while striking out eight and walking five in 8 2/3 innings. Opponents hit .306 over that span, and Alvarado only recorded one save in his 10 appearances that month.
It's a given that relief pitchers are going to struggle at times over the course of a season. The heavy workload and randomness of the role can easily set a pitcher up for failure at any time. But for Phillies fans hoping that July was an aberration, things didn't get much better in August either.
While Alvarado's ERA in August was roughly cut in half at 4.66 in 10 appearances, the hard-throwing southpaw allowed 10 hits and 5 earned runs while recording more walks (8) than strikeouts (7), and opposing hitters guessed right when they were swinging, posting a healthy .263 batting average in 38 at-bats.
Alvarado's rough couple of months also coincided with some family issues back in his home country of Venezuela, causing the Phillies to place him on the restricted list in late August in order for him to travel back home. It remains to be seen if mental hurdles played a role in his struggles, but it was ultimately Thomson and pitching coach Caleb Cotham who continued to send him to the mound when it was more than obvious to the casual fans that Alvarado couldn't be trusted in big spots.
The common theme shared between all four players on this list goes beyond the individual performances, the players were repeatedly sent out to fail when the splits and large sample trends pointed toward shaking things up and rolling with a new approach.
No one will fault Rob Thomson for being a player's manager, that's half the reason the veterans on the team responded to his leadership when he was named manager in 2022. This season won't go down as Topper's best in the dugout, and hopefully he learned some valuable lessons after watching his team go one-and-done in the postseason this year.
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