Categories: Phillies Beat with Destiny Lugardo

7 numbers to remember on Phillies pitching staff’s dominant start to season

Zack Wheeler has a 2.23 ERA this season.(Grace Del Pizzo/Phillies Nation)

Rob Thomson on Wednesday took a moment to reflect on what his pitching staff has accomplished.

The Phillies just completed a sweep of the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers. The offense scored seven runs, but the pitching staff allowed only two. Against a Brewers offense that’s tied for sixth in the league in runs scored, it was a pleasant surprise.

“It says a lot about our pitching staff,” Thomson said on Wednesday. “About Caleb [Cotham], about [Brian Kaplan], about César [Ramos], all of the analytics people, it was just a great series from the pitching side and from the defensive side.”

The Phillies, at 44-19, hold the best record in the National League and the pitching has been the foundation. Four starting pitchers, Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suárez, Aaron Nola and Cristopher Sánchez, all have ERAs under three. Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm, two important bullpen pieces, have ERAs under one. All 13 pitchers on the staff have contributed in big ways. José Ruiz, a minor league signing this offseason, has a 2.08 ERA in 11 games out of the bullpen. Even Seranthony Domínguez, who struggled badly in April, has allowed only one earned run since April 30.

With the Phillies enjoying a pair of off days before playing two games against the New York Mets in London, let’s take a look at some numbers that exemplify the Phillies’ pitching staff’s early-season dominance.

2.29: Combined rotation ERA of Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suárez, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez and Spencer Turnbull

We covered in a recent story why the Phillies’ best starters are not all currently in the rotation, but let’s ignore that for now. The Phillies have four NL Cy Young candidates and another really good starter in the bullpen that’s ready to jump in at any time. Taijuan Walker, despite going through some struggles, is also capable of going on a two-month run of great starts the way he did last season.

This is not the norm and Phillies fans should enjoy these starts as much as they can. Wheeler, even though he hasn’t had his best stuff at times this year, it still going out there and proving that he’s one of the best pitchers of his generation. Suárez is on one of the most impressive runs we’ve ever seen from a Phillies starter, Nola is bouncing back from a rough 2023 and Sánchez’s development over the last two seasons continues to be one of the more fascinating storylines. Turnbull, even if he never starts again for the Phillies, has already set himself up for a sizable payday next offseason.

1: Home runs allowed by Cristopher Sánchez

Sánchez allowed 16 home runs in his 2023 breakout season. Twenty-two percent of the fly balls he surrendered turned into home runs last season. That number is down to 2.9% in 2024. He joins Suárez (2021) and Roy Halladay (2011) as the only Phillies pitchers to allow only one home run in a 12-start span in a single season since 1985.

.490: Ranger Suárez’s OPS against right-handed hitters

Opposing teams tend to stack righties against Suárez, but there is no platoon advantage to be had against this version of him. In 222 plate appearances against Suárez, right-handed hitters are slashing .172/.235/.255. His .255 slugging percentage against righties is actually lower than the .283 lefties are slugging against Suárez. It’s a drastic turnaround from 2023, when right-handed hitters slashed .278/.351/.424 against Suárez.

70: Days since Matt Strahm’s last earned run allowed

Strahm allowing the ghost runner to score in extras on May 28 technically snapped his scoreless streak at 21 1/3 innings, but it’s still going on in our hearts. He allowed two earned runs on Opening Day and none since. He has also struck out 38% of batters he has faced and is tied with the Reds’ Fernando Cruz in FanGraphs WAR among major league relievers at 1.3. His ERA on the season is 0.72.

Just don’t ask him about any of his success. He could care less.

12.2: FanGraphs WAR among all Phillies pitchers

The Phillies pitching staff’s 12.2 FanGraphs WAR through 63 games leads all of MLB. The Boston Red Sox are second at 9.5, a nearly three-win difference. The next best pitching staff in the National League, the Washington Nationals, have a 7.5 fWAR. The Phillies also lead all of baseball in strikeouts-per-nine innings at 9.20 and FIP at 3.23.

20: Starts of at least seven innings

Phillies starters have thrown at least seven innings in just under a third of the team’s games. Their 20 starts of at least seven innings leads all of major league baseball, with the Braves sitting second at 15. Twenty-three major league teams this season have nine or fewer starts of at least seven innings. Only 12 major league teams in 2023 had their starter throw at least seven innings more than 20 times.

2: Inherited runners scored on Phillies bullpen since the beginning of May

A big reason why the Phillies bullpen is so much fun to watch is because there is no weak link. Everyone is getting the job done and that leads to very few stressful outings. Combine that with the length the Phillies are getting from the rotation and this is something that should pay off tremendously in October.

Hoffman and José Alvarado, Thomson’s preferred eighth and ninth-inning duo, have not entered a game with a runner on base since April. Only two inherited runners scored on the entire Phillies bullpen in the month of May, once against Strahm on May 8 and another against Gregory Soto on May 13. The Phillies bullpen has inherited only 14 runners since the start of May.

Through five games in June, every Phillies reliever has entered the game with the bases empty.