The Philadelphia Phillies continue to look for bullpen arms to step up in the absence of José Alvarado. Tanner Banks has been just that for the Phillies against lefties. The left-handed arm had a slow start to his Phillies tenure last season, but has taken it into another gear this season against left-handed hitters.
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski saw a left-handed pitcher who was tough on left-handed hitters and acted on it with a trade deadline deal. When Banks came to the Phillies at last season's trade deadline, he did not see the same success against left-handers as he did with the Chicago White Sox. He struggled when first coming to Philadelphia, finishing with a 5.63 ERA versus lefties, compared to the 1.61 ERA he posted with the White Sox.
While it has taken a bit for Banks to transition, he has been everything the front office thought he would be this season. Overall, he has a 3.81 ERA in 26 innings out of the Phillies' bullpen this season, with much of that success coming against left-handers.
Tanner Banks has turned his Phillies tenure around with his performance against left-handed hitters
In 2025, Banks has thrown a total of 11 2/3 innings against lefties. It's tough to believe, to an extent, but Banks has been one of the best pitchers in lefty on lefty scenarios, with his strikeout rate the most telling about his success. He has struck out a total of 16 left-handers, with a 96.8 percent strand rate.
He's striking out 38.1 percent of hitters faced, which ranks first among relievers in left-on-left situations with a minimum of 10 innings. Banks' 33.3 percent strikeout-minus-walk rate against lefties is the second-best in the league. Banks is also second among southpaws with 12.3 K/9.
When left-handed hitters do make contact, they don't get much off Banks, hitting just .184 against the 33-year-old. Lefties' slugging percentage jumped to .368 after he surrendered a home run to the Milwaukee Brewers' Christian Yelich on Friday, but it's still better than his .418 against right-handed hitting. He has a WHIP of 0.77 against left-handed hitting, the seventh-lowest in the league.
Saving Mr. Banks pic.twitter.com/K4qtaxsQaQ
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 24, 2025
Nobody is hiding the fact he does need to be better against right-handers to be trusted in more high-leverage situations, but you can't argue the fact he has been everything the team had envisioned against lefties.
Banks has seen his role develop into more important assignments lately, including coming in for the final out for a save against the Athletics last Friday. He struck out the only batter he faced that game. He followed that up with a scoreless inning on Saturday, picking up two strikeouts in the Phillies' 9-6 extra innings win. Banks held his team in the game when they were trailing by one run before coming back to win.
This is the Tanner Banks this team needs, and the one they thought they were getting last season, as the season continues to develop and the workload on the only other lefty in the bullpen, Matt Strahm, continues to spike.