July 05, 2021
The Phillies hit the midway point of their season over the holiday weekend and are just about a week from the All-Star break, so it's as good a time as any to check in on some of the latest news surrounding the team. The currently sits three games under .500 at 39-42 and in fourth place in the NL East — but still very much in the race at just 4.5 games behind the division-leading Mets.
Ahead of the official start of the second half of the season on Monday night against the Cubs, let's take a look at a couple newsworthy nuggets from the Phils...
In a bit of a surprise twist, the Phillies will be sending multiple players to the MLB All-Star Game next week. With both starting pitcher Zack Wheeler and catcher J.T. Realmuto being named to the National League squad, it's the first time since 2013 that Philly will have more than the requisite one player taking part in the Midsummer Classic.
For Realmuto, it's a bit of a surprise selection, as the guy who came into the season as "the best catcher in baseball" has been having a bit of a down year by his standards, slashing .263/.359/.446 with eight homers and 31 RBI through the first half of the season. As for the defensive attributes that take him from a great-hitting catcher to simply a great catcher, they haven't really been on display as much this season either, as he's caught just five baserunners stealing in 18 chances. That's good for a 22% success rate, which is the lowest mark of his career and down considerably from the absurd 47% he posted in 2019.
Still, the veteran catcher has built up enough cache around the league and has put together a solid enough resume over the years that it's not entirely shocking that he would still make it even in a down year, especially after he made each of the last two All-Star Games (2018 and 2019). When a player starts running off a few consecutive selections in a row, people begin to believe they "belong" there, regardless of whether or not they're have a below-average season or not, and it appears Realmuto is a beneficiary of that kind of thinking this time around.
Someone who is not a benefit of that — for several reasons — is Wheeler, who has been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball this season and was rightfully rewarded with the first All-Star selection of his career.
“It's pretty cool. It's kind of what you dream about growing up,” Wheeler said Sunday, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia. “But yeah, to actually go out there, I've always kind of struggled the first half or the first couple months, I always kind of shot it down kind of quick. But to be this consistent for this long means a lot to me also. The hard work is paying off now.
"I haven't won many awards. I don't even think I've won anything since I've been in the big leagues, no Player of the Week or Month or whatever it may be. This is pretty cool, right? This is one of the biggest ones besides Cy Young or something like that. I can tell my son and future kids I was an All-Star. It's pretty cool."
It is pretty cool. It's also very well deserved, as Wheeler would likely be the frontrunner for the National League Cy Young award if it wasn't for the insane season Mets starter Jacob deGrom has put together.
Still, Wheeler (6-4, 2.05 ERA, 0.939 WHIP) is leading all of baseball in WAR. Period. That's all players, including batters. At 5.3 overall, he's even slightly better than Shohei Ohtani (5.2), who just became the first player in baseball history to be selected as both a pitcher and position player. Wheeler leads MLB in innings pitched (114) and strikeouts (139) through his first 17 starts of the season. His ERA is the sixth best in MLB, as is his strikeout/walk ratio (5.56), and his WHIP is ninth. He also has five starts where he's thrown at least seven scoreless innings — which, again, is the best in the game.
Needless to say, Wheeler was a lock to make his first All-Star Game this season based on the numbers alone. And he's making the Phillies front office look very smart in the process, something we haven't been saying very often lately as the Phillies are in danger of missing the postseason for the 10th consecutive season. Here's more from NBC Sports Philadelphia's Corey Seidman:
Wheeler has exceeded expectations since signing a five-year, $118 million contract with the Phillies in December 2019. He had a 2.92 ERA in 11 starts in the shortened 2020 season and has been significantly better this year.
Gerrit Cole signed a nine-year, $324 million contract with the Yankees a week after Wheeler signed with the Phillies. Here's how the two have performed since Cole signed for an additional $206 million:
Wheeler (28 starts): 2.38 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 185 IP, 192 K, 41 BB, 10 HR allowed
Cole (29 starts): 2.88 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 178 IP, 229 K, 37 BB, 29 HR allowed [nbcsports.com]
That's what you like to see out of your big free-agent acquisition.
And now for the not-so-great news...
During the ninth inning of a 10-run game on Sunday, Phillies outfielder Andrew McCutchen removed himself from the game with oblique tightness, according to reports.
McCutchen had clearly been in pain for several innings during the 11-1 loss to the Padres, and when Andrew Knapp was heading to the mound — to pitch, mind you — after Hector Neris allowed six runs, the veteran left fielder decided he'd had enough.
After the game, manager Joe Girardi didn't really have much to offer on the situation, other than to say that McCutchen would be re-evaluated the next day, so stay tuned for any potential updates ahead of Monday's game against the Cubs.
