Phillies 2023 MVP: Ranking the top 5 Most Valuable Phillies position players

A lot happens over the course of 162 games, and like most teams, the Philadelphia Phillies had their share of ups and downs. After the six months of the marathon that is the MLB season, which position players came out on top as the Most Valuable Phillies of 2023?

For this exercise, we'll be looking at each player's overall value to the team during the regular season, using FanGraphs' Wins Above Replacement (fWAR) value.

Not familiar with WAR? Simply put, it's a way that the baseball stats nerds came up with "to summarize a player's total contributions to their team in one statistic," according to Piper Slowinski of FanGraphs.

Per Piper, "WAR is all-inclusive and provides a useful reference point for comparing players" and tells us what a player is worth to their team compared to a replacement player.

Without any further ado, let's get into it.

First up, which players just missed the cut and have to settle for an honorable mention?

Johan Rojas and Kyle Schwarber just missed making it into the top five, both finishing the regular season with 1.4 WAR.

Rojas amassed his 1.4 WAR despite only debuting in mid-July and playing in 59 games. He did it through a combination of his top-tier defense and his pesky offensive game. The 23-year-old center fielder slashed .302/.342/.430, with a ridiculously lucky .410 BABIP, and stole 14 bags.

Schwarber finished with a 1.4 WAR thanks to his .474 slugging percentage and 47 home runs. He was held back by his .197 batting average and his subpar defense in left field before taking up permanent residence in the DH position. Per FanGraphs, the 30-year-old slugger had an offensive rating of 16.4 and a defensive rating of -26.5.

So, who did make the top five Most Valuable Phillies position players in 2023?