The Phillies need to replace this struggling bat at the deadline

Another year, another shot at a championship. Since their last World Series appearance in 2022, a match in which they lost, the Philadelphia Phillies have slid backwards, falling in the NLCS in 2023 and the NLDS in 2024.

This year, the Phillies are back on top of the NL East, holding a slim half-game lead over the New York Mets entering Tuesday. Still, their season has been far from spotless. The Phillies have gone through immeasurable difficulties from the bullpen without Jeff Hoffman (signed with Blue Jays), Carlos Estevez (signed with Royals) or Jose Alvarado (PED suspension), especially with Jordan Romano’s descent into the dumpster fire. 

But with new free-agent signing David Robertson in tow, we can expect some degree of stability from the relief corps going forward — though, not to insinuate that team president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is done adding bullpen arms. 

Another sore spot that received plenty of attention the past few months is in the outfield, left field in particular. Among all qualifying left fielders, Max Kepler maintains the second lowest OPS. Much has been made about potentially replacing him, but as bad as he’s been, there is one Philadelphia infielder that has done even worse.

Once a promising bat, second baseman Bryson Stott seems to be reaching rock bottom. Below, you can his stats in comparison to that of Kepler’s:

(wRC+: weighted runs created plus represents the culmination of a hitter’s offensive achievements where a value of 100 is MLB’s average) 

Stott has been more proficient than Kepler at recording hits, but Kepler’s power and higher walk rate gives him the edge in overall offensive stats. It was only in 2023, his second year of MLB action, when Stott hit .280/.329/.414 with 15 home runs. Unfortunately, Stott’s productivity began to slide last season.

This year, his slump halted in April when he hit .314 on the month, but it quickly resumed in May (.216), worsened in June (.202) and has reached a fever-pitch in July (.132). 

If the Phillies are going to claw their way back to the Fall Classic, it may be better if Stott’s bat isn’t in the lineup.