PHILADELPHIA — Phillies manager Rob Thomson gave second baseman Bryson Stott a night off from the starting lineup Wednesday, seeing an opportunity to use righty Edmundo Sosa against San Francisco Giants southpaw Robbie Ray.
Ray had been especially tough on lefthanded batters in his early outings this year. Entering the game, they were hitting just .167 against him. Righties weren’t doing much better (.175), but Sosa came in hitting .444 overall and .357 against lefties.
Still, the organization is committed to the lefthanded-hitting Stott, 27, who is beginning his fourth full-time season in the majors after the Phillies drafted him 14th overall out of UNLV as a shortstop in 2019.
This is a pivotal season for Stott, as he is entering what are traditionally a ballplayer’s prime years.
After a promising 2023 season during which he slashed .280/.329/.419, with 15 home runs, 62 RBIs and 31 steals, Stott regressed last year. He struggled to hit just .245, but he was injured nearly the entire season after suffering nerve damage in his right elbow during a May series against Miami.
It left him with numbness in his fingers, which became pronounced when he’d hyperextend his elbow during a swing or hit the ball off the end of the bat. So he began trying to overcompensate, which mostly served to screw up his mechanics.
Now, he’s finally healthy and free to focus at the plate, and he’s starting to see the ball better again.
Stott is hitting .292 in his last six games with a double, triple, two RBIs, two runs scored and a pair of stolen bases.
“I’m not afraid that my arm’s going to snap in half,” Stott said. “That’s a positive. And I’m able to ride out changeups a little better and kind of stay through the ball when I get fooled and – I don’t want to say give up on them – just roll them over. I can be out in front and still have enough to hit a line drive somewhere, whereas last year if I was out in front, I was kind of compromised and couldn’t do anything.
“Obviously you don’t want to be out in front ever, but the stuff these days, they’re throwing 99 (mph) with changeups at 81, and it’s just going to happen. So I’m just trying to stay more through the ball and go from there. … Just swinging at the right pitches.”
Stott also seems to feel comfortable in the leadoff spot. Thompson started putting him there during the series in St. Louis, followed by Trea Turner batting second, then Bryce Harper, and Schwarber hitting cleanup to protect Harper.
“Realistically, you only lead off the game once,” Stott said. “At home, it’s not even like you’re leading off the game, because you’re out playing defense. You lead off innings no matter where you hit in the lineup throughout the game anyway. So I really don’t feel like it’s a difference, especially during home games.
“But I like it. It’s fun.”
Spoken like a player who came up in the age of analytics. Sure, it’s true that you’re only assured of leading off once per game. But over the course of the season, if you start every game, that’s 162 times.
Plus, it raises a player’s overall plate appearances, which is a big deal for contact hitters who bat ahead of the big guns.
The rearranged lineup with Stott at the top had produced results, particularly in Tuesday’s 6-4 win over the Giants.
“Really with the top three guys, including Harper, and you’ve got some stolen base threats in there too, depending on the matchups,” Thomson said. “I know Trea got thrown out last night (Tuesday), but he’s not going to get thrown out much.”
Speed not only can disrupt a pitcher and put pressure on a defense, it can lead to early runs. In Monday’s series opener against the Giants, even though the Phillies ended up losing, Stott led off the game with a single and then scored from first on a Turner double.
“Just knowing I could score from first on a double, and having Trea, who can also run, if I hit a single or walk or Trea walks or singles or whatever and it’s first and second, you know you have two guys (on base), and then we can steal and really make it scoring position,” Stott said. “Having those two back there, it’s huge.
“And you saw with Kyle sitting there hitting fourth, and they pitched to Bryce and he hit a home run (Tuesday). He’s obviously not going to get pitched to every time, no matter who’s hitting behind him. But then you have Nick behind those two and it keeps going down and down, and you’ve got to pitch to somebody.”
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Thomson gave catcher J.T. Realmuto a bit of a rest Wednesday, moving him to DH, putting Rafael Marchan behind the plate, and moving Schwarber to left field.
“That gives J.T. a half day and (puts) Marchan behind the plate, so we’ve got more righthanded hitters against Ray,” Thomson said. “Another thing I want to stay away from, or help him with, is his rhythm at the plate. Because he feels like if he takes a day off, if he’s going good, it upsets his rhythm just a little bit.”
This was the second time in Aaron Nola’s four starts this year that Marchan has been his catcher.
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Lefthander Ranger Suarez (back) made another rehab start with single-A Clearwater on Wednesday. He allowed three hits, a walk and a run while striking out seven in four innings. In his first outing, he surrendered a hit and struck out four in three innings. Suarez was scheduled to return to Philadelphia on Thursday for evaluations with team medical staff and a bullpen session before making another rehab start at a higher level of the minors.
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NOTES >> Outfielder Weston Wilson (oblique) has been progressing in his rehab with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs, but Thomson wants him to get another 20 to 30 at-bats before recalling him to the big club. … Phillies owner John Middleton presented Pat Burrell with his Phillies Wall of Fame ring prior to Wednesday’s game. Burrell, who helped win a World Series here in 2008, was inducted into the Wall of Fame in 2015, but the team didn’t give out rings for it back then. He is now the Giants’ hitting coach.
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Christiaan DeFranco covers the Phillies, Eagles and other sports in the Philadelphia metro market for MediaNews Group / Tribune Publishing. Follow him on X at @the_defranc.
Source: Berkshire mont