The Phillies? The Phillies!

     I can't believe I'm writing this. After the first week of the season, I was enjoying nothing more than watching the Phillies self-destruct before we even got into April. I was having fun predicting when Gabe Kapler would get fired, how many times Pedro Florimon would pitch, the specific date fans would begin throwing things on the field. Then something weird happened. The Phillies started winning. It wasn't gradual, it was like someone flipped a switch. Out of nowhere, Philadelphia fans were back to being as insufferable as they always are. Now, as we get into June, let's take a look at why the Phillies have been successful to the point that they're knocking on the door of the division lead.
     Odubel Herrera comes to mind. We'll get to him but he's not the biggest reason why Philadelphia is back. That would be the pitching. Gabe Kapler's doing the same thing with them as he was at the beginning of the year, pulling his starters an almost annoyingly early in the game- but now it's working. Number one starter Aaron Nola is fourth in baseball in innings pitched. To find another Phillie you need to travel all the way down to number 83 where Nick Pivetta sits. The strategy's paid off. Under the reduced workload the rotation has posted a collective ERA of 3.33, good for fourth best in the National League.
     With that strategy in place, it seems ironic that the most successful would be Nola, who carries the biggest workload of the group. Nola, in 84 innings pitched, has posted a 2.35 ERA while striking out 8.5 patters per nine innings. But when the other four starters are on the mound, the Phils go to their bullpen much more often. Edubray Ramos has been nothing short of dominant, pitching 22 innings with a miniscule 0.81 ERA.
     Of course, they've scored runs too, and leading the charge there is Odubel Herrera. His first couple years in the big leagues he was like the Eddie Rosario of the national league: oozing with potential, but strikeout-prone and too much of a swinger for his own good. In 2017, he swung at a whopping 40 percent of pitches that were outside of the strike zone. This year he's slashed that to 33. The patience has paid off. So far through Saturday, he's on pace for career highs in batting average (..305), on base percentage (.368), slugging percentage (.462) and OPS+ (127).
     The rest of the Phillies lineup is composed of players who would have been scoffed at in the pre-Moneyball era, but are valued assets now. Aside from Herrera, no one is hitting over .300, but half of the order has an on-base percentage above .340, with no one embodying that type of particular player more than Carlos Santana. The free agent signing from Cleveland has only hit .221 in his first year with the Phillies, but has been above-average in terms of OBP with a mark of .341. He fits right into the philosophy that Gabe Kapler's been teaching.
     It will be tough for the Phillies to make the playoffs this year, sharing a division with both the Nationals and the upstart Braves, but they've already exceeded expectations from both the beginning of the year and the first week of the season. And as more young players like J.P. Crawford and Mickey Moniak develop, things will only get better from here.