When Philadelphia Phillies reliever Matt Strahm gave up two earned runs in an Opening Day loss to the Atlanta Braves, some might have taken that as a bad omen for what was to come in 2024.
Strahm obviously wasn’t one of those people, and has responded with one of the most lights-out stretches in franchise history, which seems likely to propel him to his first All-Star Game appearance.
Since Opening Day, Strahm has made 23 consecutive appearances without allowing an earned run. Now in his ninth MLB season, is this the most locked-in Strahm has ever felt?
“As far as stringing it together, maybe. I don’t know. I look at us relievers as field-goal kickers,” Strahm said. “We’re supposed to throw up zeros, otherwise we didn’t. It’s just doing my job.”
Strahm may prefer to stay in the moment, but manager Rob Thomson was eager after the game to talk about how well Strahm is pitching, and what he believes has been the key to the 32-year-old’s dominance.
“Yeah, he’s been really good — really consistent,” Thomson said. “His fastball has life, that consistent life that he didn’t really have last year. I attribute that to the starting role that he was in, it took its toll on him a little bit. But he’s been really, really good.”
Strahm’s latest scoreless outing came in Friday night’s 4-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, in which he pitched 2/3 of an inning in relief of Aaron Nola, who had gone the first 6 1/3 frames.
Nola has previously said that this year’s Phillies have the best starting rotation that he’s ever been a part of. The longest-tenured player on the team said Friday evening that the 2024 Phillies also have the best bullpen of any club he’s been on. Strahm obviously has been at the forefront of that.
“He gets ahead of hitters, goes right after them,” Nola said of Strahm. “He’s got a really good fastball. He’s got good off-speed [pitches].
“So, I mean, you can tell by the hitters’ reactions or their swings on his fastball,” Nola continued. “Today, he got 3-1 on one of the guys and just threw two fastballs by him. So when you see something like that, you know he’s got a really good heater and he’s not scared to use it.”
The Phillies became the first MLB team to reach 40 wins with Friday’s victory, and they have a ton of All-Star candidates.
Ranger Suárez has been about as good as any pitcher in baseball. Zack Wheeler isn’t far behind. Alec Bohm probably has the inside track to be the starting third baseman for the National League. After recording the save Friday, Jeff Hoffman now has a minuscule 1.09 ERA and 1.92 FIP over 25 outings this season. Bryce Harper has an .895 OPS, and a strong week or two could propel him to his eighth All-Star Game. Nola, Cristopher Sánchez and J.T. Realmuto may get caught up in a numbers game, but they deserve to at least be mentioned.
But Strahm is as deserving as anyone when it comes to the All-Star discussion. His 0.65 FIP is the top mark among all qualified MLB relievers. His 0.78 ERA is fourth in baseball. According to FanGraphs, his 1.2 WAR is third in terms of relievers, trailing only Mason Miller of the Oakland Athletics and Emmanuel Clase of the Cleveland Guardians, but both of them are in the American League.
“Yeah, I mean, it would be cool,” Strahm said. “But again, we’ve got one thing in mind in this clubhouse, and it’s a World Series. So, I mean, cool, but again, just gotta keep doing my job and win as many games as we can.”
Fair enough. But on the way towards potentially accomplishing the ultimate team goal, Strahm might have to make a detour to Arlington for the All-Star Game.
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