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Phillies end woeful weekend with bad defense, managerial missteps — and missing Bryce Harper
Phillies end woeful weekend with bad defense, managerial missteps — and missing Bryce Harper

New York Times

time4 days ago

  • General
  • New York Times

Phillies end woeful weekend with bad defense, managerial missteps — and missing Bryce Harper

PHILADELPHIA — There is no ideal Phillies batting order whenever Bryce Harper is absent; the manager must improvise. But, even if Harper had been available Sunday, the Phillies would have had Weston Wilson in left field. They were facing a lefty starter, and that is what Rob Thomson has installed as standard procedure. Wilson, an infielder by trade, is the left fielder against lefties. Advertisement But, in the sixth inning of a 5-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers that capped a forgettable weekend, Wilson stepped to the plate with a righty reliever on the mound. Thomson has been aggressive in these moments, especially with a lead. He's platooning in left and center field, but he's told everyone the initial lineup is just that. There can and will be changes during a game. Wilson still batted against Nick Mears. He struck out on five pitches. Thomson had a chance to secure the platoon advantage for that at-bat, had Max Kepler pinch-hit for Wilson, while improving the left-field defense for the remainder of the game. 'There's a couple of things that I'm going to look back on over today's game and question myself over,' Thomson said afterward. 'So not only do we have to play better, but I have to manage better.' Ranger Suárez hung a full-count slider to Caleb Durbin to begin the next half inning. Durbin hit it hard, but it was short of the warning track. It was a routine play for an average left fielder. Wilson never saw it off the bat. He ran in, toward left-center, and then pivoted to form a checkmark with his route. The ball plopped past him for a leadoff double. 'The ball has to be caught,' Wilson said. Milwaukee scored three times in the seventh as the Phillies handed them five outs. They should have at least escaped with the game tied, but shortstop Trea Turner botched a routine grounder hit right at him that prolonged the inning even further. Wilson's miscue started the snowball. And, when his spot in the order came to bat again, there was another Brewers righty reliever pitching. Thomson pinch hit with Brandon Marsh to begin the ninth. The deficit was too great by then. But Thomson's misstep was evident. Advertisement The manager regretted his sixth-inning indecision. 'Now,' Thomson said, 'looking back on it, yeah.' This season, when an opposing batter puts a pitch thrown by the Phillies in play, there is a 31.8 percent chance it will be a hit. Only the Colorado Rockies, perhaps the worst team in the history of organized professional baseball, convert batted balls into outs at a lower rate. This is a problem. It is not a statistic that can be assigned solely to a team's defense or pitching; it's a mesh of both. If a team's pitchers consistently allow hard contact, they are more likely to surrender a high batting average on balls in play. But the Phillies entered Sunday tied for the second-lowest average exit velocity allowed. Maybe some of it is bad luck; the Phillies' starters often induce weak contact, resulting in flares for cheap singles. That hurts a team's batting average on balls in play. So does a shabby defense. The Phillies entered Sunday tied for the fewest fielding errors in MLB. Errors, more than ever, are a flawed way of measuring defense. (Major League Baseball has intervened on more scoring decisions this season to award hits.) Advanced defensive metrics — some reliable, some not even worth considering 60 games into a season — portray the Phillies as one of the worst defensive clubs in baseball. The Wilson miscue, ruled a double because official scorers do not assess errors for bad reads unless the ball nicks the fielder's glove, epitomizes the Phillies' high batting average on balls in play. Not since at least 1950 has a Phillies team carried a batting average on balls in play higher than .318. (The only exception is the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, which no one in Philadelphia should ever think about again.) It's a staggering rate for a team with a strong pitching staff. Advertisement One of the things holding this all together in 2025 is the rotation's league-leading 26.6 percent strikeout rate. The best way to avoid fate with a batted ball is to strike out many dudes. The Phillies should be better on defense; it's never going to be a good fielding team, but it is not worst-in-baseball-type stuff. Turner, in particular, has been better. He made several strong plays Sunday, ranging to his left. He has been more sure-handed this season. Until he's not. The mark of a good shortstop is one who can slow down the game in critical times. 'The mistakes have been, it feels like, big moments,' Turner said. 'Which is frustrating. But where I was at the last two years and where I'm at now, I feel a lot better. I'm doing a lot of things right and playing pretty good defense.' Most advanced defensive metrics support the notion Turner has improved. That will elicit eye rolls from some, even if the same metrics were held against Turner in previous years. Everyone agrees: The entire team's defense should look better. 'We definitely played a little sloppy,' Turner said, 'and obviously it starts with me.' 'I don't know how to put a number on it, but I think we've played very well at times,' Thomson said of the defense. 'We've improved over the last year. And I think Trea's played a lot better this year than he did last year. So he's improving. So I don't know how to put a number on it. But it looks bad right now because of the last two days.' The whole thing feels askew without Harper. 'Just having his name in the lineup, regardless if he does well or not, is going to help everybody else in the lineup,' Nick Castellanos said. The Phillies have gone 1-4 since Harper suffered a bruised right elbow when hit by a Spencer Strider fastball. Advertisement He's expected to return Tuesday when the Phillies begin a series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Had the Phillies placed Harper on the injured list and backdated it as far as permitted, he would have missed the entire series this week at Toronto and the first game at Pittsburgh. It was a risk worth taking — playing short a few days — if it meant a shorter absence for Harper. His return does not solve the outfield conundrums Thomson often faces. Wilson is here because he is supposed to hit lefties; he's only 4-for-22 with four singles against them in 2025. Even if the Phillies wanted to make a change there, Wilson's potential replacement offers even less defense. Otto Kemp has crushed Triple-A pitching. But he's played left field only once a week. Kemp is considered a below-average defender on the infield; if the Phillies thought he could do more in the outfield, he would be playing it more at Triple A. Maybe they'll try it anyway in the majors. Wilson has a specific role — one that will not make or break a season. But when things are starting to spiral, even a part-time player will encounter scrutiny. 'That's my job,' Wilson said. 'I mean, I have to do my best to be the best in that situation. I just have to be better.' (Top photo of Weston Wilson: Eric Hartline / Imagn Images)

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