When the Phillies inked Carlos Santana to a three-year contract worth $60 million last December, one popular line of thinking went like this: Santana is a veteran hitter noted for his plate-discipline and savvy approach. He takes the pitches that he should take and swings at the ones he should swing at. By proxy, his presence will help a talented, but struggling player like Maikel Franco help realize his potential that to this point has been unfulfilled, in part, by failing to do what Santana succeeds at. In essence, an ancillary benefit of Santana’s own production would be that a player like Franco would look more like Santana this season.

To be fair, that is pretty much what has happened through 16 games. Unfortunately for the Phillies, this has not been a positive development. Santana, a hitter with a proven track record of success, is a hot mess right now. He enters tonight’s game hitting a paltry .136 over 59 at-bats this season, which is .111 points below his career average. His .548 OPS is 258 points (holy shit!) below his .806 career average. He’s hitless in his last 14 at bats and is 2-for-26 over his past seven games. He’s been brutal.

Most fans don’t want to hear this, and I get it, but he has run into some bad luck. Hitting the ball hard is, you know, normally a good thing, but it hasn’t worked out for Santana thus far. His 40% hard-hit percentage is actually up from his 33.1% career mark. What’s more, according to Statcast, his 90.67 mph average exit velocity is above the MLB average of 88.89 mph, yet his .125 BABIP is the lowest among any qualified hitter in baseball. I know what you’re thinking. Cool numbers, dude—so what does this mean? Well, here’s what his current season BABIP looks like in relationship to his career and league averages: Continue Reading

Odubel Herrera has registered an .887 OPS over his first 53 at-bats this season. His .340 batting average currently leads all major league center fielders. He is a career .290 hitter who possesses the ability to hit for average, reach base at an impressive clip, and rack up extra-base hits with ease. In fact, he tallied 59 XHB’s during what many believed to be an underwhelming campaign last season. His offensive production is irrefutably impressive.

Defensively, he possesses natural tools that allow for flashes of brilliance in center field:

Odubel Herrera keeping Phillies' moneyline (-107) bettors hopes alive! pic.twitter.com/yC5nAjyO0t

— The Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) April 12, 2018

Herrera also happens to occasionally pimp his home runs:

Odubel Herrera with the A-plus-plus-plus bat flip. https://t.co/JRb2LV5vtL

— Baseball is Fun (@flippingbats) May 25, 2016

He will do this (gasp!) when he doesn’t hit home runs: Continue Reading

Until last night, no Phillies starter had yet to navigate himself beyond the sixth inning of a game this season. Aaron Nola, in his third start of the year, accomplished against the Reds what he likely should have back on Opening Day in Atlanta by earning his first win. He was brilliant over eight dominant innings of one-run baseball on a night when Gabe Kapler needed to give a bullpen that has logged 8.1 innings since Sunday some well-earned rest.

Nola was so good that he made it impossible for the manager to saunter from the dugout six times to usher in his nightly parade of relievers. That’s progress! As Kapler remained parked in the dugout, he watched his best pitcher become only the fifth National League starter to last at least eight innings in a start this season.

It appeared early on that Nola’s gem would be wasted as the Phillies were held hitless through five innings, somehow, by Homer Bailey. But an inning after an Odubel Herrera RBI double tied the game at 1-1 in the sixth, J.P. Crawford’s well-timed second hit of the season plated the go-ahead run. Scott Kingery provided the insurance in the eighth-inning with a 374-foot middle finger of a grand slam to ice the game after Reds manager Bryan Price elected to intentionally walk Nick Williams. Kingery would have none of it.

The night, however, belonged to Nola. His 103rd and final pitch of the evening resulted in a weak fly ball that retired Jose Peraza to finish the eighth. He set down the final 10 Reds hitters he faced on a night when he allowed only three hits while striking out six.

If his first three starts are any indication, Nola appears poised to elevate his game and force recognition as one of the National League’s premiere pitchers from those who have been foolishly slow to give it to him. Opponents are batting a paltry .161 against the 24-year-old right-hander, and his 0.98 WHIP is among the best in baseball.

What you are about to see is the stuff of an ace. No hyperbole, no equivocation, no hesitancy–Aaron Nola is an ace.

Here’s a 93.4 mph two-seam fastball just off the plate that’s effectively framed by Jorge Alfaro for a called third strike: Continue Reading