The Jays get a well deserved off day after their four game sweep of Schrodinger’s A’s and are hoping to bring some of that power with them when they host the Phillies on Tuesday. The Phillies are currently second in the NL East, one game behind the New York Mets who have been streaking over the last week. I reached out to our SBNation partner The Good Phight and one of their writers Anthony Esbensen was gracious enough to answer a few questions about the team.
Editor’s note: Questions go out days before posting while the Phillies were leading the NLE, so the Mets surge wasn’t reflected in them.
1. Other than the Mets, the Phillies are looking comfortable on the top of the NL East. What do the fans see as being key to holding off New York and staying there?
Their biggest weakness is easily the bullpen. As of May 31, the Phillies rank 25th in bullpen ERA, 17th in bullpen FIP, and 20th in left on base percentage (LOB%). The depth has been an issue the entire season but losing José Alvarado has hurt their ability to finish games on a nightly basis.
Excluding Alvarado, the Phillies have used seven relievers in at least ten innings of work. Only one carries a FIP under three, and five carry FIPs over four.
The Phillies are trying other changes on the fly. Taijuan Walker has looked like a completely different pitcher from 2024 as a starter but will transition to the bullpen full-time with the club’s immediate need. José Ruiz was Designated for Assignment on Sunday for Seth Johnson, a right-hander who throws in the upper 90s and has missed plenty of bats in AAA.
However, these are band aids on potential bullet wounds that cannot be fixed until the trade deadline. Those regular-season games over the next two months might hurt a potential division race in September.
2. Since we basically swapped late inning relievers, Hoffman and Jordon Romano have run into a rough patch. What’s up with Romano?
Jordan Romano’s fastball velocity has fluctuated wildly between his outings, or even sometimes within them. For example, Romano came into the ninth inning of Sunday’s game against the Brewers and his first fastball came in at 93.6 mph and his last was 97.7.
Not having four ticks on your fastball is a potential death sentence. He does not possess the command or movement to make up for it either.
For the most part, Romano has looked like a worthwhile bet when his fastball velocity has sat 96 mph or above but it’s hard to justify consistent late-inning appearances when you never know if he’s prepared to pitch.
3. The Phillies rotation, except for Nola, is looking dominant. What happened from last year, other than the acquisition of Luzardo?
The five in the starting rotation last year were Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez, Cristopher Sánchez, and Spencer Turnbull. Wheeler, Suárez, and Sánchez were good enough to win be all-stars, Nola received Cy Young votes, and Turnbull had the second highest bWAR of his career.
The Phillies started five other arms last season in varying sample sizes. Walker was one of the worst starting pitchers in baseball that season, Tyler Phillips had a 6.87 ERA in 8 games, Kolby Allard had a 5 ERA, and arms like Michael Mercado and Seth Johnson pitched even worse in a low sample.
The Phillies have had way better depth in 2025. Taijuan Walker completely transformed his Phillies tenure with a 3.53 ERA and 3.50 FIP in 43.1 innings as a starter and reliever. Mick Abel struck out nine batters in six scoreless innings in his debut against the Pirates.
This is all before the Phillies debut Andrew Painter at some point in 2025. Before his Tommy John surgery in 2023, he was arguably the best pitching prospect in the entire sport. He has not lost a step so far in AAA.
4. Which prospect are Phillies fans most excited for that might debut this year?
As I just mentioned, Painter at point was considered the best pitching prospect in the sport a couple of years ago and has not lost a beat since returning from Tommy John surgery.
In AAA, Painter has averaged 96.6 mph on his fastball, is striking out 27.8% of the hitters he’s facing, and is limiting hard contact. His fastball grades out as a plus-plus pitch with two strong secondaries in his curveball and cutter, which he manipulates into a slower slider with more sweep depending on the hitter. He is working on a changeup in AAA but that’s still a work in progress.
Regardless, at some point he will pitch and there are a lot of indications he’s going to be good right away. If he is, the Phillies might have a tough decision about what kind of role he has come October.
5. Who is your favourite member of the team to watch right now?
Kyle Schwarber’s transformation from a three-true-outcomes hitter into a designated masher has been a sight to behold as a baseball fan. He sacrificed pulling the baseball last season to make more contact and it led to a more complete hitter with an OPS of .851.
This year, he is back to pulling the baseball, especially in the air, but cut his strikeout percentage by five percent. He still carries all of the same qualities from a power and plate discipline standpoint and is making more contact while not sacrificing pull side power.
He is a true masher of baseball who is getting better with age. He is a free agent at the end of the season and is going to be 33 but either the Phillies or someone else should look to ink him to a long-term deal. His career arc might seem similar to Nelson Cruz, who didn’t reach his peak as a hitter until his mid-30s, something Schwarber seems to be doing right now.
6. Finally, just a fun little exercise, if you could choose any player who debuted with the Phillies at any point in their history and drop them into this team at their rookie position and with their rookie year numbers, who would it be?
Setting aside potential differences in how the game has changed since 1883, the Phillies highest fWAR rookie center fielder was Roy Thomas, who played in 1899 and had a 137 wRC+ and 5.6 fWAR in 150 games.
He walked 115 times that season, which would be nice for this lineup, stole 42 bases, and hit .325. He did not hit one home run, which isn’t exactly ideal but that would only make the discourse around his success more fun on modern-day social media apps.
The correct answer is Dick Allen’s 1964 season but Thomas was second in Phillies rookie all time fWAR for position players so that is something. Hopefully, Thomas solves some of the outfield defensive issues, too.
Thanks Anthony!