Phillies 2023 MVP: Ranking the top 5 Most Valuable Phillies position players
With all the superstars the Phillies have on their roster, who finished as the most valuable position players this season?
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?
No. 5: J.T. Realmuto, 1.5 fWAR
J.T. Realmuto's value can't be overstated. Now 32 years old, Realmuto continues to be a workhorse behind the plate for the Phillies.
In his fifth year in red pinstripes, Realmuto didn't have the same impact this season as in previous years, finishing with 1.5 WAR. Last season, he amassed 6.5 WAR, and in 2021 he registered 4.6 WAR.
But when Rob Thomson knows he can pencil Realmuto in behind the plate so frequently, it makes his job much easier. Not to mention the pitching staff's comfort level in throwing to him.
Realmuto played in 135 games this season and had 540 plate appearances, ranking him seventh behind some of the top catchers in baseball. Most impressively, he appeared in 130 games as the backstop, not as the designated hitter, like many top-end catchers play a good chuck of their games. His 535 plate appearances as a catcher were far and away the most in the majors this season.
The 10-year veteran didn't have the same stellar offensive season as years past, hitting .252 — his lowest mark since his brief debut in 2014. But he still contributed 20 home runs, 63 RBI, and 70 runs scored.
Behind the dish, he caught the most innings (1,142) and finished with a .998 fielding percentage. He had the fastest pop time of 1.83 seconds and excelled in blocking, with the fourth-best BAA (blocks above average) at 12. But he came up short in other advanced defensive metrics like DRS (defensive runs saved) with -4 and framing runs with -14.
His WAR took a hit on the bases this season. He finished with a -1.5 BsR (base running runs above average), a steep decline from last year's 6.6 BsR. Despite not having the same skills on the basepaths, he still finished with 16 stolen bases. That number is easily the most among catchers — no other backstop had double-digit steals.
No. 4: Bryce Harper, 3.3 fWAR
We all know about Bryce Harper's miraculous return from Tommy John surgery and his commitment to helping his team by taking up a new position halfway through a career on a Hall-of-Fame trajectory.
Thanks to his quick recovery, Harper had a significant impact on the 2023 Phillies and helped carry them to the postseason. He accumulated his 3.3 WAR in 126 games and 546 plate appearances. But when you consider how long it took the two-time MVP to look like himself, he actually piled up the WAR value in a hurry over the second half of the season.
From his May 2 debut until the end of June, he hit .283 with a .768 OPS and three home runs in 49 games. While it was expected that it would take a while for Harper to hit like Harper, Phillies fans were waiting for that day to come as the team bumbled along.
From July 1 onward, he slashed .300/.413/.575. That's a much more Harper-esque .988 OPS. He mashed 18 home runs, piled up 52 RBI, and scored 56 runs over 77 games, good for a 163 wRC+ as the team took off and powered into the top Wild Card spot.
He had his hottest stretch at the plate in the second half of August, when he posted a .458 batting average and 1.636 OPS, with eight long balls, 17 RBI, and 16 runs scored over 13 games from Aug. 16 to Aug. 30.
So, just how important was Harper to the Phillies? During those two weeks in August, the Phillies went 9-4, improving their record to 74-59. They increased their lead in the Wild Card to 5.0 games, a lead they wouldn't relinquish, and improved their odds of making the playoffs from 82.2 percent to 96.8 percent.
All said, the 31-year-old Harper finished with a .293/.401/.499 slash line, 21 homers, 72 RBI, 84 runs, and even chipped in 11 stolen bases for a final 142 wRC+.
No. 3: Brandon Marsh, 3.4 fWAR
In his first full year in Philadelphia, Brandon Marsh had a breakout season, registering a career-high 3.4 WAR. He started 116 games in the outfield for the Phillies and appeared in 144 games across all three positions. He began the year as the everyday center fielder before eventually shifting between center and left field with the arrival of Johan Rojas.
In his third year in the majors, Marsh set career highs with a .277 batting average, an .829 OPS and a 125 wRC+ while batting in the middle to bottom of the order. He also set new career marks in home runs with 12, RBI with 60, and runs scored with 58. He added value on the bases with a 3.1 BsR and matched his stolen base total from 2022 with 10.
The wildly bearded and long-haired 25-year-old held his own patrolling the outfield grass. Over his 867 1/3 innings in center field, Marsh had a -3 DRS but registered four OAA (outs above average) and four RAA (runs above average). When he shifted over to left field, he balanced out his center field play with three DRS as well as one OAA and one RAA in 136 innings.
While it's not captured in the stats, Marsh is also well-known as the ray of sunshine in the Phillies' clubhouse. According to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, Marsh is the guy who has the most fun playing baseball.
"We've got to be nice to ourselves out here," Marsh said early in the season, per Zolecki. "We've got to have fun, smile, be energetic. It's a blessing to wake up every day, throw on a pair of shorts, a really weird T-shirt, a cool pair of shoes and come to the field and play baseball every day. It's hard to beat that, in my opinion."
No. 2: Trea Turner, 3.8 fWAR
It's been well-documented by now how poorly Trea Turner's Phillies career started, how incredible he ended up being down the stretch, and the general roller coaster of a first season he had in Philadelphia overall.
The fact that the $300 million shortstop managed to finish with a 3.8 WAR is an impressive feat in itself. It's not the 6.4 WAR he had in 2022 or the 6.9 WAR he had in 2021, but Turner finished the year on such a heater that he turned things around both in the stats and in fans' minds.
By the end of July, the 30-year-old had accumulated just 1.0 WAR, primarily buoyed by his phenomenal base running metrics (it certainly wasn't his offense). At that point in the season, he had 5.1 BsR with 21 stolen bases. Both numbers were the best on the team.
As for his bat, up to the end of July, he had a -6.2 offensive rating on FanGraphs and was hitting .242 with a .637 OPS and a 24 percent strikeout rate — yikes! Outside of his 27-game debut season, Turner had never posted a season strikeout rate above 19.9 percent.
But, after the now-famous standing ovation from the Phillies faithful, Turner kicked his season into gear and finished with the highest WAR (2.8) on the team over the final two months of the campaign, proving his value to the club.
He dropped his strikeout rate down to a more Turner-like 17 percent and absolutely raked at the plate. He hit .317 with a 1.000 OPS and launched 16 home runs, drove in 42, and scored 44 while swiping nine more bags in 51 games.
He propelled the Phillies into the top Wild Card spot, taking them from a 58-49 record on Aug. 1 to a 90-72 mark by season's end. Over that stretch, they grew their slim 0.5 lead in the Wild Card to 6.0 games.
No. 1: Bryson Stott, 3.9 fWAR
Before the season, if you took a poll of who the most valuable Phillies position player would be, it would be hard to imagine Bryson Stott being at the top of most people's lists. With names like Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and J.T. Realmuto filling out the lineup, Stott would have been lucky to crack the top three.
But here we are.
After six months of regular season baseball, the 26-year-old Stott sits at the top of the pile with a 3.9 WAR. That ranks him sixth among National League second basemen.
In just his second year in the league, Stott put together an impressive .280/.329/.419 slash line, swatted 15 home runs, drove in 62, scored 78 times, and stole 31 bases in 151 games. He showed patience and discipline at the plate, running a 15.6 percent strikeout rate, improving on his 19.1 percent mark from his rookie year.
Stott was a consistent, stable performer throughout the season. He helped stabilize the offense while other higher-paid and more experienced players got their games in order for the final stretch drive of the season.
While the former first-round draft pick had a respectable 6.2 offensive rating, his value was really carried by his base running, with a 5.3 BsR, and his defense. His 11.2 defensive rating placed him first among qualified NL second basemen. Even Harper emphatically told everyone who would listen that Stott is the best second baseman in the league.
The slick-fielding Stott was named a Gold Glove award finalist, and the advanced metrics bear out that honor. He finished third among NL second basemen with six DRS and ranked first with 16 OAA, 12 RAA, and a 4.9 UZR (ultimate zone rating).
Bryson Stott is the Most Valuable Phillies position player from 2023.
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