Alec Bohm, Bryce Harper, Bryson Stott address how Luis Arraez helped save the Phillies’ offense
The Phillies have become a fun team to watch by adding a fun player in Arraez, whose presence in the lineup has impacted the hitters around him.
Athletes mimic.
Whether it’s Kobe Bryant mirroring Michael Jordan or Joel Embiid mastering Kobe’s footwork, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (which actually is the case for that aphorism, since Oscar Wilde borrowed it from Charles Caleb Cotton).
The Phillies aren’t exactly mimicking deadline light-hitting addition Luis Arraez, but his arrival on Aug. 3 has meant everything to a team that had the most disappointing offense in baseball through two-thirds of the season.
The Phillies’ on-base percentage on Aug. 3 was .305, which was third-worst in baseball. The Phillies’ on-base percentage since Aug. 3, entering Wednesday night’s game, was .367, which was the best in baseball.
What happened between Aug. 3 and Aug. 4?
The Phillies traded for Arraez.
» READ MORE: Inside the hitters’ meeting that sparked the Phillies’ on-base percentage turnaround this month
This makes sense — right? — since Arraez won league batting titles in 2022, 2023, and 2024, and he led the National League entering Wednesday, at .317.
However, since his arrival, Arraez has generally slumped. He was hitting .274 with a .292 on-base percentage since arriving from San Francisco. This might be because he’s batting fourth in the order after spending almost all of his career batting first or second. At any rate, it’s OK.
Because this has less to do with Arraez’s production than with Arraez’s presence and how it has affected the hitters around him.
Bryce Harper, the No. 3 batter in front of Arraez, was hitting .255 with an .862 OPS on Aug. 3. Since then, he’s hit .295 with a .939 OPS, fueled largely by his .530 on-base percentage, which includes 22 walks in 14 games.
Alec Bohm, hitting fifth behind Arraez, was hitting .226 on Aug. 3. Since then, he’s hit .396 with a 1.038 OPS and 11 RBIs in 14 games.
Bryson Stott, who bats sixth, was hitting .253 on Aug. 3. Since then, he’s hit .367, has a 10-game hitting streak, and, like Harper, his on-base percentage of .508 has as much to do with his eye as with his hands: Stott has 14 walks in those 14 games.
Harper has begged for protection for two seasons.
Now, he has it.
“As a lineup, any time you’re able to add somebody like that, obviously, it’s going to be really good for the team,” Harper said. “You know he’s [going] to put the bat on the ball.”
There might be other factors.
The Phillies held a hitters’ meeting just before Arraez arrived, and they talked a lot about being selective-aggressive, as hitting coach Kevin Long has preached since his arrival in 2022.
» READ MORE: Inside the hitters’ meeting that sparked the Phillies’ on-base percentage turnaround this month
Long’s a superb hitting coach, but Long doesn’t hit. Long doesn’t set an example. Arraez does both, and his presence seems to have more obviously impacted production.
Between the meeting and Arraez’s arrival, the Phillies’ on-base percentage rose two points.
Between Arraez’s arrival and Wednesday night, the Phillies’ on-base percentage rose 62 points.
It’s not as if Arraez sets an example of selectivity. In fact, he’s seeing just 3.74 pitches per plate appearance this season, well below the big-league average of 4.13. And Arraez doesn’t walk much: he’s averaged 37.2 walks in his five full seasons, and he has 27 this season.
So, has he really affected the middle of the lineup?
“Yeah, for sure,” Stott said. “When you’re the guy behind him, you see him, when he swings the bat, it just feels like he’s going to get a hit.”
Bohm spoke after Tuesday’s win over the Marlins, in which the Phillies collected 10 hits. Nine of them were singles, but, really, Bohm’s double was a single, too, but the Marlins threw to the wrong man, so he stretched it into a double.
The core of the Phillies’ order is swinging at fewer tough strikes, waiting for their pitch, making balanced, controlled swings, keeping the bat in the strike zone longer, and not trying to hit home runs. Harper, Stott, and Bohm struck out just 17 times combined in the last 14 games.
» READ MORE: Alec Bohm, Philly’s latest scapegoat, nears the end of his run as a Phillie. Appreciate him.
Homers have become coincidental.
On Tuesday, the Phillies scored at least six runs in a fifth straight game, the first time they’ve done that this season. They scored six on Monday, too, with 10 singles and a double.
They’ve become a fun team to watch by adding a fun player.
“He’s one of those infectious energy guys,” Bohm said. “And you see the ways he plays, the way he takes his at-bats, watching his at-bats — you spend time around good hitters, good hitters can make other hitters better.”
The sincerest form of flattery, indeed.
Tony Gwynn Jr. is a former major league outfielder and son of late Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. Over the last two years, he got to know new Phillies second baseman Luis Arraez, whose contact skills at the plate often draw comparisons to Gwynn. Tony Jr. joined Phillies Extra to discuss his father, Arraez, and the bonds that connect them. Watch here.
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