Phillies miss out on gold, hope to snare some silver

The Phillies didn’t hoist the largest piece of offseason hardware, a World Series trophy, this year, but they are looking ahead to perhaps earning some individual award trophies over the coming weeks.

Last night, Rawlings and Major League Baseball announced their Gold Glove recipients for 2024, given to the best fielder at each position in the National and American League. Four Phillies were finalists at their respective positions.

• Brandon Marsh (LF)
• Bryce Harper (1B)
• Bryson Stott (2B)
• Zack Wheeler (P)

When the Phillies traded for Marsh during the 2022 season, the idea was he’d be the long-term center fielder, but the emergence of Johan Rojas and Marsh’s less-than-stellar play in center necessitated the move to left, where he has excelled. Harper, in his first full season at the position after learning it on the fly in 2023, has turned into one of the best fielding first basemen in the NL. Stott was a Gold Glove finalist a year ago and, despite his struggles at the plate, remained an elite defender. Wheeler won the Gold Glove a year ago, although it’s clear Ranger Suarez is the best defender at his position in baseball, but didn’t have enough innings to qualify.

Unfortunately, the Phils were beat out at every position. Hence, no gold this year, as we discussed on the latest edition of our Hittin’ Season podcast.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5yjHStxmULeMyEhKW9Lflo?si=olrCGMILSpynQ-Spyp0K6A 

However, three Phillies are up for prestigious offensive awards, announced Monday. Harper, Alec Bohm, and J.T. Realmuto are all finalists at their positions for a coveted Silver Slugger Award. 

Realmuto has already won this award three times, in 2018 with Miami and then in 2019 and ‘22 with the Phils. He only played in 99 games for the Phillies this year and, among catchers with at least 400 plate appearances, his OPS of .751 was fourth-best among six catchers. Milwaukee’s William Contreras is likely to take home the Silver Slugger at catcher this year, although J.T. had a better season at the plate than most remember. 

Until the last few weeks of the regular season and the playoffs, Bohm had a breakout year at third. The starter for the National League in the All Star Game in July, Bohm’s second half dropped his overall OPS to .779, fourth-best among eight qualified NL third basemen. San Diego’s Manny Machado was tops at .797. It’s a horse race, although Machado’s reputation will likely prevent Bohm from winning.

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At first base, Harper has a legitimate shot of taking home his fourth Silver Slugger, having won his first two in the outfield and last year at DH. Among qualified first basemen, his .898 OPS is tops in the NL, ahead of the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman and 13 others. It would be a surprise if it went to someone else.

Interestingly, DH Kyle Schwarber was not a finalist, after winning a Silver Slugger two years ago in the outfield. His .851 OPS was third-best in the NL, although it’s a moot point given that Shohei Ohtani is going to win every award that moves this offseason. Still, Schwarber had his best overall offensive season in 2024, so it’s bizarre he was not a finalist.

And while Ohtani will certainly win MVP, and it’s unlikely any Phillies player will be in the top-three finalists, Zack Wheeler is expected to be a Cy Young finalist again this year, where it’s assumed his chief competition will be Atlanta’s Chris Sale. Most of the traditional numbers favor Sale, although Wheeler’s innings totals and some of the other peripherals point to him being the more impactful starter. We’ll have to wait a bit longer to see how that shakes out.

So while the Phillies missed out on some gold, perhaps at least one of them will bring home the silver in a few weeks when the winners are announced.

The post Phillies miss out on gold, hope to snare some silver appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY.