CLEARWATER, Florida: The National League pennant for the Phillies was one victory away for the second time in a row. Instead, the Phillies suffered perhaps their most crushing playoff series defeat since the 1993 World Series as a result of a startling collapse.
There are many people to blame for what transpired. Many continue to ponder whether events in Games 3 and 4 might have been different had Craig Kimbrel not been included.
The Phillies had an opportunity to seal it at home but failed to do so in spite of Game 3’s lack of scoring and Game 4’s difficulties for the bullpen.
Suddenly, the potent Phillies offense, which had defeated Arizona 15–4 in Games 1 and 2, and blasted six home runs, went silent. The Phillies were unable to give up as the D-Backs pitchers tormented hitters with offspeed deliveries outside of the strike zone. It’s a problem that returned at the worst possible time and was common earlier in the season.
What happened after the immediate pain of the loss subsided?
“I’m not sure. Still not sure,” stated Bryson Stott. “We recently got out of our swings. I believe that we were more frustrated. attempting to force us to approach the pitcher rather than having the ball come to us. We still had some excellent at-bats and other moments in there. It’s baseball, like I mentioned, so you will have those small setbacks. Ours arrived at an inconvenient moment.
“It’s amusing since we were precisely where we needed to be,” stated hitting coach Kevin Long. And I simply thought that we were a little nervous, lost focus on our approach, and began swinging at pitches that we shouldn’t have. The pitches on the edge. Even the ones that weren’t correct, we just enlarged. Yes, we did. It was odd considering how well we were performing. And it suddenly turned around on us. Simply said, the at-bats weren’t as good as they had been previously. You will eventually return home once that occurs.
The collapse raised concerns about the Phillies’ free-swinging lineup and whether a change was necessary. Instead, the Phillies will use their plan to teach up players internally and bring back all nine of the starters from Game 7.
Learning to stop the strike zone from getting bigger is a major element of it. Sports Info Solution lists the Phillies as one of the five worst baseball clubs in 2023 with an O-Swing% of 34.1%. The Phillies swung at 35% of pitches out of the zone in Games 6 and 7.
This year, there will be a focus on making decisions inside the box.
“We need to make a lot more decisions in the cages,” Long stated. “I need to toss a lot more balls,” There will be additional balls thrown by our other teachers. There will be more strike-to-ball action. Ball to make contact. Our players are really being mindful of what they are striking at. After that, we’ve added a few new things that we intend to do. When it comes to communicating with our gamers, we intend to be rather proactive.
In the summer, Dustin Lind and Rafael Peña were appointed by the organization as new assistant hitting coaches. Lind, a former coach with the Giants, will oversee game strategy. Former Astros minor league coordinator Peña will run batting practice, set up the cages before games, and serve as a confidant to the team’s Spanish-speaking hitters. Long can spend more time in the hitting cages working with his guys and less time at a computer analyzing the opposition pitcher thanks to having an extra hitting coach.
The day following games will see one of the biggest adjustments this year. Before the game the following day, Lind will have to review the excellent and negative swing calls from the previous evening. To identify and address flaws, a batter will be reminded, for instance, if they swung at three sliders low and away.
“If we simply pay more attention and inform them, say, ‘Yesterday, you had eight chases,'” said Long. “A few of these guys are unaware of how many there are. I didn’t have eight, I’m sorry. “Yes, you did,” I said. “There’s no way,” they will then say. We must ensure that they are aware of what is occurring to them.
Any strategy that aims to help senior hitters get better in areas where they have been struggling for years is likely to be met with skepticism. The veterans that make up the majority of the Phillies’ lineup are too advanced in their careers to make significant personal transformations. While Nick Castellanos will rely more on aggression, players like Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper will always have an advanced feel for the strike zone.
While Long isn’t requesting that every batter quadruple their walk rate in a single season—something Brandon Marsh accomplished in 2022 and 2023—small improvements made by each player individually should eventually result in larger ones for the lineup as a whole.
Long remarked, “We do have some guys that do a really good job.” “Well, Schwarber has achieved career highs in strolling. In actuality, he is in charge of the strike zone. Then there are the guys who aren’t improving at it. We ought to focus particularly on those guys.
Turner and Castellanos serve as the plan’s yardstick for feasibility. While they both had their moments in 2023, they are currently off career highs in chase rate and went through their worst slump of the year in the NLCS final games. Turner and Castellanos combined to go 2-for-37 in Games 3 through 7 of the NLCS after having OPSs over 1.500 from Game 1 of the NLDS through Game 2 of the CS.
Turner in particular had an extreme year. His season was on the verge of collapse until a scorching August and September, but before to that he swung at 39.1% of pitches outside the strike zone and had an OPS of.673. Turner hasn’t been as inclined to chase in the past, so there’s hope that he can get better. From 2017 to 2021, he had a chase rate of less than 30% for five years in a row.
“[Castellanos] are capable of improving slightly. Long remarked, “[Turner] has done it before. “I witnessed him doing it. He needs to return to the high 20s in terms of chase rates. No, the 30s, 35s, and 40s. We absolutely need to make sure that our people are improving there because those are unacceptable numbers.
The Phillies, meanwhile, don’t want to stray too far from their lineup that ranks among the best in baseball when it comes to power hitting. Because of their propensity to drive error pitches over the wall, the Phillies have finished in the top ten of teams that hit home runs throughout the previous two seasons.
They were the favorites to return to the World Series because of their aggressiveness in the strike zone. The Phillies are already attempting to ensure that last year’s fatal fault doesn’t hold them back again. Aggressiveness outside of it led to their early downfall.
Long remarked, “These guys like to swing.” “They’re itching to swing. They are unwilling to go up there and take. And it’s not just that. We do not need to have this conversation. There is a conversation about finding zones.
