If the Phillies miss the playoffs, what's this year's story?

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You will have to take my word that this sentence was typed shortly after noon Sept. 18, before the Phillies game in Atlanta began. This was a game I knew in my gut the Phillies would win.

That’s how this piece was supposed to start. It was a perfect lead in to a report on Philadelphia’s win in their series finale with the Braves in Atlanta. However, the Phillies being the Phillies, they lost, and as a result, slipped a bit down the playoff ladder to the very bottom rung of those who will qualify.

Even if the Phillies scrape into the playoffs, what is the real story of their season?

I was sure I had seen enough evidence in the Sept. 17 loss to Atlanta to predict a win. The Phillies fought hard in their 4-3 loss last Saturday night, and gave every impression that they were not going to roll over and play dead (again) this September.

First, Aaron Nola, once again a victim of poor run support struck out the side in the last inning he pitched in the game, the seventh. All three of Atlanta’s hitters, Ronald Acuna, Jr., Dansby Swanson, and Austin Riley, went down swinging.

Before and after that half frame, the Phillies had narrowed Atlanta’s margin of victory by one three times behind timely and situational hitting by three of their youngest players. In the fifth inning, Bryson Stott walked and eventually scored on Matt Vierling’s sacrifice fly after being advanced on a Nick Maton single. In the seventh inning, Stott singled and scored on a Vierling double.

Then in the top of the eighth, Stott singled again, driving in Bryce Harper who had doubled. It really looked as though the Phillies were saying, “We’re not gonna take it anymore.”

However, this piece isn’t about my predictive powers, and maybe the Phillies’ fighting spirit would return for their games with the Blue Jays at home. However, the seventh and eighth-inning offensive effort the Phillies displayed Saturday points to one of the principal stories of their 2022 season.

And if the team fails to hold onto a Wild Card slot, it will really be the only positive story of the season: The success of the Phillies’ youngest players.

I was reminded of this by a hearsay tweet last week that I can’t find now – so, sue me – that involved an allegation by veteran baseball writer Jayson Stark. According to this report, an opposing coach for a recent Phillies opponent complained to Stark that Philadelphia’s minor-league call ups all produced, while this coach’s young players had not.

I have no idea whether Stark actually made this remark, or where it was made if he did, but it seems a minor miracle to Phillies fans. The team’s maligned farm system has produced useful players! Let’s take a look at some of them.

Mandatory Credit: Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports /

Bryson Stott

Bryson Stott was the 14th overall pick in the 2019 draft out of UNLV. Considering the havoc played with baseball by COVID, his eventual installation as the Phillies’ starting shortstop this season is evidence of both good judgment by the Phillies’ talent evaluators and some determined effort on Stott’s part.

After all, he had to force a reasonably good, if fading shortstop, Didi Gregorius, to the sidelines.

At this point, Stott displays an average fielding range, but generally good hands at short, as well as extremely good instincts in spur-of-the-moment situations. He will have a clunker of a game in the field now and then.

Offensively, though, the left-handed hitter started very slowly. Although he hit .300 at various MiLB levels in 720 plate appearances, as late as Aug. 5 the 24-year-old was still under .200 at the plate. He had shown some ability to hit when it counted, however, with 3-RBI games three different times in May and June, contributing to wins over the Dodgers and Angels.

Then something clicked, or more precisely, Stott took the advice of Phillies second baseman Jean Segura. Segura suggested the player hit as though he had two strikes on him for all pitches for a while. This worked beautifully.

Stott eliminated the toe-tap he often employed before taking two strikes, and the results shot towards the sky. Since crossing the .200-mark Aug. 6, Stott has gathered 39 more hits in roughly six weeks, and driven in nine more runs.

The young shortstop seems poised for a breakout year in ’23.

Darick Hall

Darick Hall was a veteran minor leaguer when he was called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to replace Bryce Harper’s bat in late June when Harper’s thumb was broken by a pitcher. Hall has now returned to the IronPigs for consistent at-bats since Harper has returned to the team, but it seems likely the 27-year-old turned enough heads while in Philly to assure that he will return to MLB with some team at some point.

In his first 17 games, Hall had five home runs (three in his first three games), and an .894 OPS. One of those homers was a 449-foot moonshot to center.

He largely fit into the DH slot against right-handers, but did see a little action at first base. It is hard to tell whether he might be a better fielder at the MLB level than the Phillies’ incumbent first-sacker, Rhys Hoskins, but on some nights, most Phillies fans would tell you he’d be hard-pressed to be worse.

The left-handed slugger hit .264 in his 37 games with the Phillies, with eight doubles, a triple, and nine home runs. He was becoming a fan favorite.

Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports /

Nick Maton

If there was a game this season that looked a little like the Phillies’ future, it was probably the Aug. 23 win over the Reds. After Bryson Stott barely missed a two-run homer that would have been his second walk-off hit of the season, Nick Maton banged a single to right field to walk-off the win, scoring Stott, who had settled for a double.

Two of the kids did it, the 24-year-old shortstop and the 25-year-old utility man who fits into several positions very well. This particular evening, they did it against the Reds closer, Alexis Diaz, who had not been scored on in August to that point.

Maton had 131 plate appearances in 2021, but didn’t return to the Phillies until June 1 of this year – for two games – then again Aug. 6, that time to stick with the big club.

In less than half a season’s games over two campaigns, Maton has hit .264, this season .281 with an OPS of 1.005. In 26 games with the Phillies in ’22 he has five home runs, two doubles, and a triple, showing surprising power for a 178-pounder. He also began to play outfield this year, and definitely passes the eye test out there, particularly in right field.

In all, Nick Maton has played second, third, short, left, and right for the Phillies, as well as filling in twice as a pitcher in blow-out games. He appears to be the likely heir to Segura a second base.

Matt Vierling

A top-twenty MLB sprinter, Matt Vierling is primarily an outfielder who has been replaced at this point by Brandon Marsh. The Phillies apparently feel that the tall, right-handed hitter may not “be the answer” in center field that Marsh potentially is, but this doesn’t mean the team will definitely cut ties with Vierling.

He hasn’t hit quite as expected, but is still only 26 and shows the ability to hit when particularly needed, as noted above (Sept. 17). He also definitely raised a few eyebrows when he homered deep to left-center field off Josh Hader June 7 to put the Phillies ahead late in a game.

There’s a decent chance, however, that Vierling could be dealt for pitching talent over the off-season. In addition to playing the outfield, the speedster has played first, second, and third for Philadelphia.

Phillies make major change to rotation. dark. Next

As the Phillies struggle to hold onto a playoff slot this season, it should be noted that whether or not they are able to do that, they are a much better team than they fielded for the last several years. They are potentially a very much better team, and this is in no small part because of the younger players on their roster who have filled in so ably for injured players, and in some cases seem poised to take starting jobs.

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