Turning back time in picking the Phillies All-Decade Team

The Infield

Catcher: One player on the Fightin’s all-decade team who didn’t peak in the previous decade, when the team won three division titles, two NL pennants and the World Series in 2008, was Carlos Ruiz, the durable, beloved, starting catcher in Philly for nine years.

Many Phillies fans may, in a default way, consider the Phillies great run of 2007-11 to have ended all their starters great achievements in 2010 or ’11, but this isn’t the case. In fact, Ruiz’ career peaked in terms of individual achievement and recognition after the Phillies pinnacle years at the end of the previous decade.

From 2010 to ‘12, “Chooch” garnered votes for MVP, and in 2012 he was an All-Star when he slashed .325/.394/.540. Because of the bigger stars on the field a decade ago for Philadelphia, not even that many in the City of Brotherly Love likely remember that Ruiz hit .325 for a season once. For the six years he started at catcher in the decade, he slashed .276/.358/.404, and was often credited by his starting pitchers for their success, which before 2013 was considerable. He caught three no-hitters for Philly, one a perfect game.

The runner-up here is J.T. Realmuto, despite having played only one season with the Phillies in the decade. Realmuto just won the 2019 NL Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards at catcher.

First Base: As all Phillies fans know, Ryan Howard was never the star he once was after tearing his Achilles tendon on the last play of the team’s season in ’11, but Howard is the obvious choice for first base. All other starters at the position in the decade were negligible as candidates except for Rhys Hoskins, who just doesn’t have the numbers at the position yet to be named to this team.

Once one of baseball’s most feared sluggers, Howard remained the starter at the only position he ever really played, excepting DH, until the end of ‘15. In his seven decade years there (splitting time in ’16), he slashed .240/.314/.452, averaging 23 home runs a season. These numbers reflect a steep fall-off from his early years, but by most accounts he worked very hard to stay in his job.

Second Base: The past decade at second base for the Phillies was split right down the middle between Chase Utley and Cesar Hernandez. The first five years were Utley’s, the second five Hernandez’, and the choice here is seemingly simple. Seemingly.

Utley was playing in his age-31 through 35 seasons, Hernandez in his age-25 through 29 seasons, and their numbers were not as far apart as a casual observer would assume. Utley was past four of his six All-Star selections by 2010, and all of his Silver Slugger awards.

Utley’s slash line as the nominal starter was .270/.355/.435. Hernandez posted .278/.355/.388 and had two years in which he hit .294, a figure Utley never touched or surpassed again after 2007 (.332). However, Utley brought a passion to his play even in his declining years with the Phillies that Hernandez has never matched (although stories of his loafing are overheated sometimes).

Additionally, Utley brought an intelligence onto the field and into base-running few others ever have. And in ’10 and ’11, the Phillies did win the division. Chase Utley gets the nod.

Third Base: The choice here is Placido Polanco over Maikel Franco even though Franco is considered by Baseball-Reference the starter in five seasons and Polanco only three, and the fact Polanco was playing in his age-34 through 36 seasons while 2019 was only Franco’s age 26 season. Polanco hit .298 in ’10, and was an All-Star in ’11 while winning the Gold Glove. Franco, simply put, has been a terrible disappointment since 2016, when he hit 25 home runs and drove in 88 as a 23-year-old.

Shortstop: No discussion – Jimmy Rollins. Three years past his MVP season in 2007, Rollins began a run of five seasons before departing for Los Angeles that saw him slash .252/.323/.390 and win his fourth Gold Glove at age 33 in 2012.