Throughout the 2010s, the Phillies organization was in a lowly place. When Aaron Nola made his debut for Philadelphia in 2015 and delivered a six-inning, one-run performance, there was reason to have hope once again. The LSU product was highly touted before entering the league as MLB’s 28th prospect at the time. Over the next several seasons, Nola would become the ace of the Phillies rotation. Beginning in 2018, he’s been the Opening Day starter for Philly ever since. ‘18 was Nola’s most notable season as he finished the year 3rd in National League Cy Young voting, with an ERA of only 2.37.  Though the team wasn’t reaching the playoffs, the organization came to expect a standard of excellence from their best pitcher in Nola. Nola’s repertoire became household for Phillies fans, enjoying seeing the ace paint the corners with a jumping fastball, and his famous, biting knuckle-curve. He was tallying strikeouts and consistently pitching to a mid-3s ERA as the leader of the staff.

2021 has been a different story for Nola. He’s embodied the term inconsistent. Suffering a loss in ERA production, up to 4.63 which is nearly a run higher than his career average, he maintained a high strikeout and innings pitched rate. All in all, he’s 9-9 with 223Ks – respectable numbers in those respective categories. But something was off with Nola this year as he was allowing more runs. There are two explanations for Nola’s decline in performance – hitters having learned Nola and Nola not executing. Nola was particularly poor in division games where hitters are more likely to have faced him before. Fans of the Phillies can recall many home runs off the bats of division superstars Juan Soto and Ronald Acuna. They’ve seen him a number of times and they’ve learned his stuff – Nola needs to adjust if he wants to get them out again. Nola has also been called out for having flat stuff – many games he simply hasn’t executed his pitches with the same movement that made him successful before. 

Nola has also had a few spectacular outings. He threw a complete game shutout in St. Louis in May, and an 8-inning shutout at Yankee Stadium. His signature performance came on August 21st when he threw an 8.2 inning loss to the San Diego Padres. It personified his season in terms of disappointment. The Phillies led the game 3-1 and let Nola pitch the bottom of the 9th, when he allowed a game-tying home run with 2 outs. Aaron Nola is a fan favorite in Philadelphia, as one of the only homegrown players on the team who’ve been here a bit, and everyone wants to see him back on the right track. But Aaron’s inability this season to get hitters out with consistency has led the organization to consider the prospect of trading him this off-season.

When the Phillies landed superstar outfielder Bryce Harper in early March of 2019 on a 13yr/$330M free agent contract, there was a culture change for Philadelphia. The Phillies hadn’t reached the postseason since 2011, and with the acquisition of one of the best talents in baseball, fans and the organization expected winning baseball once again. 

Bryce Harper has done his part in 2021 to affect a winning brand of baseball, but unfortunately the rest of the club has not followed suit. Harper has had an outstanding season for the Phillies this year, his best so far, and is currently favored to win the National League MVP following the season’s end in a few short weeks. 

Harper had had a solid couple seasons before this one for the Phillies – he was racking up RBIs and being the clubhouse leader, but not performing at an MVP caliber rate like he has this season. Harper won the MVP in 2015, but nobody in Philadelphia expected him to return to that form coming into this season for the Phillies. 

He didn’t start the season extraordinarily, but since June he’s absolutely torn the cover off the baseball. Opposing pitchers are scared to see Bryce Harper in the batter’s box as of late. It’s warranted, as the damage he’s done this year should be feared – he’s hitting for contact, power, and taking his walks. His at-bats look like perfection at the plate. In total thus far, his numbers roll in at a .313 BA, 33HR, and an astounding 5.5 WAR. He’s even been praised for his hustle on the basepaths and his arm in right field. He’s done everything he can to help this club as a leader in winning baseball games, though they sit only a few games over .500. He’s basically the only reason the Phillies are still relevant at this stage in September. Harper wasn’t selected for this year’s All-Star game, but that didn’t seem to bother the 6x selectee, who would’ve denied the invitation this year to rest and focus on the Phillies. He’s put on night-in and night-out for this city with memorable bomb after memorable bomb. Fans nor the organization expect Harper to perform at this rate every season, but it’s nice knowing his large contract has been worth it if he puts together a few more seasons similar to these. Harper’s met the expectations and then some this year and as a Philadelphia fan, you have to love it. It’ll truly be a shame if a special talent in today’s game like Harper doesn’t see postseason baseball this year because of his ball club. 

In his second season of Major League Baseball, Alec Bohm has not had an ideal one for the Phillies. Bohm came on the scene hot as a rookie. He was drafted #3 overall in 2018, which deservedly brought great optimism within the Phillies organization regarding the young third baseman. Bohm was the Phillies #1 prospect before being called up to the majors and fans were excited to see him contribute to the big league club. 

He matched the excitement with an outstanding first year, though it was the shortened Covid year. Alec’s numbers at the plate stood out, as he batted .338, with 4HR, and an OPS of .881. He struck out rarely, put the ball in play, and came up clutch in many instances. He smashed a 446ft blast in Atlanta for his first major-league homer and hit a memorable walk-off against the Mets. Bohm was not a quality fielder at third base, registering 4 errors last season, but his performance at the dish made up for it. He ultimately finished as a Finalist in 2020 Rookie of the Year voting. 

Bohm has not experienced the same successes in 2021. Fans expected close to what they got last year – a quality hitter for average with some pop, and a defenseman able to handle his own somewhat at the hot corner. Bohm started as the Phillies everyday third baseman at the beginning of the season. In the spring, he was very ugly. Not only was he missing routine grounders at his infield position, but he was striking out consistently and hitting without power. The organization was entirely disappointed by his decline in play, but expected growth and recovery, so they allowed the 25-year old to continue to start ballgames. No player is a career .338 hitter in today’s game, but Bohm seemed much unlike the 2020 version of himself in his sophomore effort. 

Bohm was hitting for a better average with a few homers later on in the summer, but continued to make errors that hurt the club consistently, posting a hefty 16 in total. Bohm seemed to be striking out a bit less, but his performance at the plate this year wasn’t getting the job done either, hitting only .245 with a net WAR of -1.2. Phillies utility piece Ronald Torreyes stepped up this year excelling in the field and hitting for a decent average. The club would give Torreyes the job at third base for the remainder of the season and send Bohm back down to the minor leagues, with a currently unknown return. Alec wasn’t helping the Phillies win games in 2021. The Phillies organization nor fans have lost hope in the offensive prospect of Alec Bohm, but this season hasn’t helped his cause.

Heading into the 2021 trade deadline, the Phillies were a .500 baseball team. But due to a poorly performing division, they sat only four games out of first place. They’ve played the same brand of baseball for the past three seasons or so, and fans disagreed on the proper course of action for the team in this year’s deadline. Some argued the Phillies needed to sell and rebuild completely, while others pictured a re-tool of the team for quicker success this season. Phillies President of Baseball Operations, Dave Dombrowski, ultimately settled on the team being a buyer, but on a minor level. The team went out and acquired SP Kyle Gibson and RP Ian Kennedy from the Texas Rangers, in exchange for pitching prospect Spencer Howard. Many were originally upset with moving on from Howard, because they didn’t realize how positively Gibson would effect the Phillies this season. 

Before being traded at the deadline, Gibson was having a career year in Texas, arguably his best. He carried a 2.87 ERA through 19 starts in ‘21 for the Rangers, the lowest mark of his career. Dombrowski saw an opportunity to bring in a ‘wily veteran’ who he knew would eat innings and get outs. A number of factors have limited the potential of the Phillies starting rotation this year – Aaron Nola’s inconsistency, Zach Eflin’s injury, and poor performances by back end pieces like Matt Moore and Velasquez. Spencer Howard was not filling the void, so the team got an upgrade at a needed position. 

Gibson’s 2021 success translated to Philadelphia. In his first start for the Phillies, a Sunday matinee in Pittsburgh against the Pirates, Gibson delivered nearly seven innings of 2-run work. He earned the Phillies a victory, showcasing why he is a successful major league arm having his best season at 33. He’ll only run his fastball up to about 91mph, not overpowering, but makes up for it with his control and changing of speeds. His style leads to lots of quick putouts in the field, tending to avoid the strikeout. Gibson is criticized for this, but it can sometimes even be more effective to pitch to contact in getting major league hitters out fast. 

Kyle Gibson resonates with Philadelphia fans as well. He hasn’t experienced much success in his career, playing primarily in lowly franchises as of recent in Minnesota and Texas. And when he was traded to a team in a division pennant race, he matched the team’s energy. Gibson’s name was called to open the division-leading series against the Mets in early August. He delivered a six-inning, one run performance and even drove-in the go-ahead run in leading the Phillies to victory. He electrified Citizens Bank Park like it hadn’t been in years. Kyle Gibson has turned out to be a very solid pickup for Dombrowski thus far, and hopefully he continues to contribute to Phillies’ success down the stretch.

The Philadelphia Phillies’ star catcher JT Realmuto is widely regarded as the best player at his position in today’s MLB. He is a coveted five-tool player in the game, known for being strong on both sides of the ball, even running well for a catcher. The 2021 season has unfortunately exposed the inconsistent side of JT Realmuto’s game. 

Philadelphia originally acquired Realmuto in a 2019 offseason deal – a big offseason for the Phillies as they landed superstar outfielder, Bryce Harper, in addition to the star catcher. Realmuto came from Miami in exchange for former Philadelphia minor league property, Sixto Sanchez, who has shown a promising repertoire in a few starts for the Marlins. And when Realmuto’s contract expired last year, Philadelphia fans were not happy at the prospect of letting Realmuto go due to pay cuts after what they’d given up. A 5yr/$115.5M contract satisfied Realmuto – the largest ever for an MLB catcher. He was back in Phillies pinstripes for the 2021 season with big expectations.  

As Realmuto had been solid in his defensive position for the previous two seasons, Phillies fans expected the same in 2021. But in many games this season, Realmuto has been caught getting lazy behind the plate. He hasn’t been framing the ball properly, frustrating Phillies pitchers when they don’t get a close pitch called a strike. Realmuto also registered a fielding percentage of only .923%, his lowest mark by a significant amount in his entire career. Phillies fans became accustomed to seeing Realmuto gun down base-stealers after a fantastic performance in 2019, throwing out 43 in 92 opportunities. But over the last two seasons, he’s experienced a steady decline in his throw-em-outs, going only 14 of 54. Many argue fewer base-stealers have been taking off on Realmuto due to his reputation, but the numbers point otherwise as of recently. 

On the offensive side of the ball, Realmuto’s numbers have not been outrageous. He’s hitting for his lowest average since 2015 at .264, and carrying his lowest OPS number since 2017 at .800 currently. Although, Realmuto did accomplish something noteworthy at this year’s All-Star game in Colorado. He hit a home run in the midsummer classic, as the first Phillies catcher ever to do so, and the first Phillie to homer since Mike Schmidt did it in Cleveland in ‘81.

It was Realmuto’s third all-star appearance and second with Philadelphia, but one could easily make the argument Realmuto did not deserve to be there this season. It was more of a nod to the name. Realmuto’s talent is still rare in the game today, particularly offensively, and Philadelphia recognizes and appreciates that. But Phillies fans know Realmuto may have a bit more to offer than what he’s shown in 2021.