The Phillies Defense Sucks And It Is Costing Them Games
After Vince Velasquez walked Ozzie Albies to start the fifth, bad throws from Nick Williams and Carlos Santana lead to Atlanta's second run. Santana has an error in each of the last four games.
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) May 23, 2018
So I go to check Fangraphs as I do most days, to see if I can find a stat that doesn’t require a degree in Advanced Calculus to support my take. The fielding stats on that site are ludicrous and I don’t even think Stephen Hawkings, may he rest in peace, would understand what they mean.
Here is what the nerds have to say about the Phillies. I have no idea what these mean, but from the look of those rankings, they aren’t good.
rPM – 29th in MLB
DRS – 29th in MLB
RZR – 29th in MLB
Here is what I say about the Phillies: FIELD THE GOD DAMN BALL CLEANLY!
The Phillies have the 3rd most errors and the 2nd worst fielding % in baseball. I know that doesn’t tell the whole story, but it is surely costing them games. We gave up a huge chunk of the left side of our defense trading Freddy away in the offseason. Maikel is terrible, Rhys is still learning how to play in the outfield and the combination of Scott Kingery and Pedro Florimon with JP Crawford shelved has been a tough experiment.
Now we had major issues with the right side of the field yesterday. That overthrow by Nick Williams and the blunder by Carlos cost us two runs. This has become a daily thing for the Phillies and it has to stop. It has to stop now.
The name of the game is pitching and defense, especially in the National League.
Wow, I knew it was getting harder to hit the baseball than ever before but I didn't realize how much.
The #Phillies have a team batting average of .239. Seems bad, right? That's still 6th-highest out of 15 NL teams. pic.twitter.com/Vs6BTN6NLQ
— John Stolnis (@JohnStolnis) May 22, 2018
If we can’t find the bats, we need to compensate in the field and it starts now. Game 3 tonight. Jake is on the hill and yours truly will be at the game. Let’s take the series.
Go Phils