The Philadelphia Phillies have had a couple of historically productive leadoff hitters over the past two decades. There's the franchise's all-time hit leader, Jimmy Rollins, whose speed and contact skills at the top of the order made him the ideal leadoff man. Rollins slugged a Phillies-record 46 leadoff home runs in his career and took home the 2007 National League MVP with his historic 20 triple/30 homer/41 stolen base season.
Then you have Kyle Schwarber, who is more of an unorthodox leadoff man, but fits the role tremendously. Since Schwarber started to hit leadoff during his tenure in Chicago, he has blasted 46 leadoff bombs in his career. The large majority of his leadoff homers have come with the Phillies, with 33, including an MLB-record 15 in 2024. When hitting leadoff, Schwarber also has a strong .345 on base percentage.
It's no coincidence that the Phillies' turnaround to the World Series in 2022 came when new manager Rob Thomson started to hit Schwarber leadoff regularly. His ability to set the tone for the team's offense by getting on base with ease is being matched by the Phillies' current leadoff hitter.
Bryson Stott sure appears to be the Phillies' ideal leadoff hitter so far
The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Bryson Stott fits the mold of a more traditional leadoff hitter. The Phillies' second baseman has had experience batting leadoff in his big-league career, mostly in 2023. Stott has just one career leadoff home run, but his ability to work counts and get on base has been superb in his brief leadoff sample size in 2025.
Since Thomson hit Stott leadoff for the first time on April 11, he has hit tremendously, with his batting average briefly eclipsing the .300 mark on Sunday against the Miami Marlins. It currently sits at .295 with a solid .356 on-base percentage, great for any leadoff hitter.
In Saturday's 11-10 win over Miami, Stott saw a career-high 35 pitches, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki, and went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. He walked, stole a base and scored two runs, creating havoc on the bases as any good leadoff hitter should. In nine games hitting out of the one-hole, Stott is slashing .308/.349/.487, with seven of his 12 runs scored, eight of his 13 RBIs and three of his four stolen bases on the season during this stretch.
In 2023, Stott had a phenomenal second season in the majors, setting career-highs in just about every offensive category. He's also one of the better defensive second basemen in the league, as he was named a Gold Glove finalist in each of the last two seasons. His performance regressed a bit in 2024, as he battled an elbow injury in which it pained him to swing the bat. That's not the best thing you want to hear from your starting second baseman, who appeared in 148 games.
However, Stott still received a solid amount of praise from Phillies fans going into the season, who know his true potential when healthy. That potential was also seen by Stott's manager. Thomson has no reason to replace Stott as the team's regular leadoff hitter anytime soon.
Hitting Stott leadoff allows Schwarber to protect Bryce Harper in the cleanup spot and also gives the Phillies a constant threat to steal a bag early in games, which Schwarber doesn't provide. Stott stole a team-high 32 bases last season. Although Stott will still occasionally sit against lefty starting pitchers in favor of Edmundo Sosa, he should remain the team's regular leadoff hitter for as long as he continues producing.