After surprising much of the baseball world with a run to the World Series last season, the Philadelphia Phillies are off to a sputtering start in 2023. Winning just six of their first 16 games, the Phillies are already well off the pace in the NL East standings. Still, there is plenty of time for the Phillies to turn things around and they've been in this position before.
The Phillies were 21-29 through the first two months of the 2022 season. That start gave way to a 66-46 record the rest of the year, so Philadelphia knows how to dig itself out of an early hole. It's still not an ideal place to be in though, and a frustrating opening to a season can break a team pretty easily.
There have been some positives and a whole bunch of negatives to come out of the 2023 season so far for the Phillies. Though we're less than 10 percent into the season, there's never a bad time to overreact.
2. Bryson Stott will win NL batting title
One of the lone bright spots for the Phillies so far is the emergence of second baseman Bryson Stott. A first-round pick by Philadelphia in 2019, Stott has been one of the best hitters in all of baseball to start the season.
Stott has a .380 batting average through 16 games and extended his hitting streak to 17 games on Tuesday with a leadoff single. It's a blistering start to the season for a second-year player who struggled to find his stride at times in 2022.
Stott made the Opening Day roster and was in the lineup for game one of the 2022 season, his major league debut. After a brutal first two months at the plate, Stott slightly improved in the middle portion of the season before seeing the ball well from August on. Stott hit for a .279 average in the final 54 games of the season, adding 16 extra-base hits and 26 runs scored.
It's not out of the question that Stott can be a .300 hitter in the major leagues. He was exactly that in 169 minor league games. It would seem more of a pondering thought that he can maintain such a high level of consistency that could get him the batting title this season.
Despite the strong start from Stott, it looks like it's going to take a lot to top Luis Arraez for the NL batting title. Arraez, who won the AL hitting crown last season with the Minnesota Twins, leads the entire league with a .455 average through 16 games with the Miami Marlins. He showed Stott exactly what he's up against by hitting for the cycle against the Phillies last week.
Bryson Stott has proved to be another reliable bat in an already daunting Phillies lineup. Maybe he can keep pace with Arraez and be the first Phillies player to win a batting title since 1958.
1. Aaron Nola is no longer an ace
There are plenty of reasons why Aaron Nola probably wishes he had a better start to the 2023 season. Called upon to start his sixth consecutive Opening Day game for the Phillies, the longest active streak of game one starts for one team, Nola looks like a completely different pitcher than he was in 2022.
Through four starts this season Nola has a 5.91 ERA. Though he's made it into the sixth inning in three of his starts, Nola allowed three or more runs in all four outings. The Phillies have won just one game that Nola started on the mound.
Nola struggled out of the gate last season as well, allowing nine earned runs in his first three starts. He rebounded nicely with three consecutive quality starts and took off after that en route to a fourth-place finish in NL CY Young Award voting.
Nola also threw over 230 innings combined in the regular season and playoffs, so a shorter offseason may be playing a factor in his dip in velocity and early-season struggles.
With 2023 being the final year of Nola's current contract, he'd probably like to turn things around sooner rather than later so he doesn't lose out on millions of dollars. Whether the Phillies retain his services for 2024 and beyond remains to be seen, but Nola isn't doing himself any favors in terms of driving his stock for other potential suitors in the offseason.
When Aaron Nola is right he is one of the best starting pitchers in Major League Baseball. If he can get back into a groove on the mound, he'll earn a huge chunk of change. There's no reason to panic yet for Nola or the Phillies, but another handful of rough outings will draw more questions than answers for Nola's future in Philadelphia.