Five random Phillies stats you may have overlooked in 2019:
Surprising success swiping bags
The Phillies had the third-best stolen base percentage in the majors. They were 78 for 96 — 81.3%. The only teams with a higher success rate were the Dodgers and Cardinals.
They were middle-of-the-pack in total steals. Those 78 were two more than the league average. They didn't have anyone steal more than 15 bases but guys like Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto are instinctive baserunners who know when to pick their spots. Those two and Jean Segura were a combined 34 for 39 (87%).
Smyly quietly outperformed bigger names
Drew Smyly made his Phillies debut on July 21 and went on to post a 4.45 ERA in 12 starts.
From the date of that first start with the Phils, Smyly had a lower ERA than Trevor Bauer, Matthew Boyd and Tanner Roark. Bauer and Roark were both dealt at the trade deadline and Boyd was the subject of plenty of rumors.
MLB
It's a good example of why you shouldn't trade off a bunch of good young pieces for two months of a non-star starting pitcher. A lot of times, someone like Smyly can match that rental player over the course of two months.
Before and after Mallee
The Phillies were hitting .245/.322/.417 as a team when they fired hitting coach John Mallee in mid-August.
They hit .249/.314/.454 the rest of the way. Not a huge difference, though they did homer in 4% of their plate appearances compared to 3.2% under Mallee, which explained the difference in slugging percentage despite the similar batting average.
Bummer to lose Dickerson
After the deadline deal to acquire Corey Dickerson, the outfielder hit .293 with an .886 OPS as a Phillie. That .886 OPS from Aug. 1-on was higher than Kris Bryant, Paul Goldschmidt, Francisco Lindor, Corey Seager, D.J. LeMahieu, Michael Brantley, Mike Moustakas and Matt Chapman.
Dickerson has moved on to the Marlins, which is a bummer for the Phillies but they did not have an everyday spot for him.
The 20-Club
You knew the Phillies allowed a ton of home runs. Did you know the entire starting staff — Zach Eflin, Aaron Nola, Jake Arrieta, Nick Pivetta and Vince Velasquez — allowed 20 home runs or more? And that was despite three of those guys not even spending the full season in the rotation.
Five teams had five pitchers allow 20-plus homers last season. That had never happened before.
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