Call to the pen
Fansided

Philadelphia Phillies: The 2019 final players report card

By Rick Soisson

CINCINNATI, OHIO - SEPTEMBER 04: Adam Haseley #40 of the Philadelphia Phillies reaches up above the outfield wall to catch the ball hit by the Freddy Galvis #3 of the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on September 04, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OHIO - SEPTEMBER 04: Adam Haseley #40 of the Philadelphia Phillies reaches up above the outfield wall to catch the ball hit by the Freddy Galvis #3 of the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on September 04, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
(Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

The Overhauled Outfield

Left Fielder Corey Dickerson: B*. Dickerson gets an asterisk here for two reasons: 1) His name should be spelled A-n-d-r-e-w-M-c-C-u-t-c-h-e-n, and 2) his grade is partly based on his performance in Pittsburgh in the first half (.315/.373/.551). After the Philadelphia Phillies acquired him, the slash line dipped a bit (.293/.307/.579), but the one increase pointed to more productive at-bats. With a nearly identical number of PAs playing for the two teams at the opposite ends of Pennsylvania, Dickerson hit twice as many HRs (8 to 4) and drove in nine more runs (34-25) for the eastern franchise. Of course, he finished the season as the de facto left fielder because of the season-ending injury to McCutchen (see Incompletes, below). Dickerson made no errors in the field for the Phillies.

Center Fielder Adam Haseley: A-. Like Dickerson, Haseley was pressed into service because of the absence of the nominal starter, Odubel Herrera, who was suspended for most of the season because of a domestic violence issue. The UVA product made the most of the situation, producing perhaps the lone quite pleasant surprise of the ’19 campaign. Haseley hit .266 overall, peaking at .280 on Aug. 6 in his 23rd MLB game. He also played a surprisingly solid center field, even yanking back a couple of potential homers from over the wall. As has been observed elsewhere, he is a solid reason to jettison Herrera (.222/.288/.341 when he was shut down) after producing an OPS 91 points higher than Herrera’s in 103 more PAs.

Right Fielder Bryce Harper: A-. OK, everybody down in the DC Twitterverse had loads of fun with where the Nats finished the same year the Phillies signed Harper to a monstrous contract, and all that – with like observations outside of social media – may have slightly obscured the fact that Harper had a very fine season. His RBI total (114) was a team-best by a mere 29, and his outfield assist figure (13) was tied for the NL lead, one behind the MLB leader’s, and four better than in his MVP season. He played hard every day and drove his BA up 11 points from ’18. Now, if he’d just stop flying out of his shoes on 90 percent of his swings…

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