Bryson Stott’s start to the 2023 season was one of the best in Philadelphia Phillies history. The 25-year-old middle infielder set a new franchise record for the longest hitting streak to start a season at 17 games. During that streak, Stott slashed .382/.390/.500 with six doubles and a home run. But despite his strong start to the season, he quickly found himself in a slump soon thereafter.
Stott’s streak ended in the second game of a doubleheader on April 18 in Chicago against the White Sox. From April 19 through the end of the month, Stott posted a .233/.298/.326 slash line with just two extra-base hits in 43 at-bats.
Those struggles then carried over into May. The left-handed hitter hit just .255/.303/.378 in the season’s second month, which resulted in a below-league-average 82 wRC+ — a statistic where a hitter performing at a league-average clip has a 100 — during that span.
Putting all those numbers together, Stott was hitting .290/.325/.403 with a 96 wRC+ on the year when the calendar turned to June. He was still leading off for the Phillies on June 1 — something he had done for most of the season — but was moved out of that spot in the order in favor of Kyle Schwarber just a few days later.
Whether or not hitting further down in the batting order has had an actual effect on him is something we probably won’t hear him say. Stott has stated in the past that he doesn’t change his approach based on where he’s hitting in the lineup and it doesn’t matter to him where he hits. But one has to wonder if it has taken some pressure off the second-year big leaguer now that he is no longer the club’s leadoff man.
Most of Stott’s plate appearances this month have come from the sixth spot in the batting order, which is a spot he had plenty of success out of last year. Stott made 115 plate appearances as the Phillies six-hole hitter a year ago and hit .299/.342/.467. This month, he’s hit sixth eight times in his 12 starts and it has resulted in great success.
Stott — who did not play against a left-handed starting pitcher in last night’s victory in Oakland — is hitting .354/.415/.583 with a double, two triples, two home runs and a 170 wRC+ in June, while recording a hit in 10 of the 13 games he’s appeared in. Out of those 10 games with a hit, five have been multi-hit performances.
Altogether, Stott’s June numbers have brought his season slash line to .301/.341/.435 and his wRC+ to 110. He’s currently in the middle of a six-game hitting streak where his batting average is .522 in 23 at-bats with just two strikeouts. During said streak, Stott has recorded multiple hits four times, and two of those games were three-hit efforts.
No matter the reason for Stott’s June success, it has surely helped the Phillies offense as the reigning NL champions try to dig themselves out of another early-season hole. Through the club’s first 15 games in June, Philadelphia has scored 86 runs, which is the second most in baseball behind the Atlanta Braves — who have scored 89 times this month.
Must Read (Or Watch) Phillies Content
- Cristian Pache, who was activated from the injured list yesterday, made a great catch in his first big league game in over six weeks:
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- Bryce Harper recently discussed the possibility of playing in his hometown and Phillies Nation’s Tim Kelly outlined the two-time NL MVP’s comments.
- Mick Abel — who is currently Philadelphia’s second-best prospect according to Baseball America, put together a strong start for Double-A Reading on Thursday:
Former Phillies Nation
- In yesterday’s Former Phillies Friday article on Phillies Nation, Tim Kelly wrote about Jorge Alfaro finding a new home.
- Johan Camargo, who was spent parts of last season in the majors with the Phillies, opted out of his minor-league deal with the Kansas City Royals yesterday.
- Matt Vierling hit two second-deck home runs last night at Target Field. Here’s his second one that traveled 430 feet:
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