Image credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Philadelphia Phillies are a near-lock to make the playoffs. When they do, it will be in spite of, not because of, their hitting—particularly in the first half. That’s because Alec Bohm and Trea Turner were two of the very worst hitters through June while combining to make nearly $40 million this year. But it’s also that Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber proved to be the only consistent and truly capable hitters for the Phillies. Even on the pitching side, Aaron Nola has allowed two home runs per nine innings this year, and Zack Wheeler has looked his age in the second half with a 7.18 ERA. Which is to say, this is a team whose identity is changing as its stars age.
One of the players leading the way as the team changes is Cristopher Sánchez, who is in the midst of his third straight year of dominance. You’ll find him, not Jacob Misiorowski, atop our WARP leaderboard—and by a healthy margin. If that seems wild, it’s because it is. But it’s not what surprised me most about this leaderboard. It’s that just behind those two is Jesús Luzardo.
Luzardo is in his eighth year of an exceptionally inconsistent career. He’s always been talented, and he’s always been interesting. It used to be that he threw two fastballs that were basically two versions of the same pitch, and the changeup wasn’t that far off from the two-seam fastball. I found that charming. I love a quirk. But until now, he’s not quite had back-to-back years of repeating a pitching profile. The strikeout rate, in particular, has bounced around quite a bit, which coincides with years where he’s basically been a replacement-level starter.
