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

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.