One of the biggest issues over the course of the regular season — and was magnified in the NLCS — was Phillies hitters swinging at pitches out of the strike zone.
Dave Dombrowski made it clear that the front office was aware of this weakness. In his press conference at the conclusion of the Phillies’ season, he spoke on the issue in the final games of the NLCS saying “I don’t know if it was because they were such quality pitches that they were still fooled. I don’t know if timing was off. I don’t know if they were stressing too much or feeling pressure. I don’t really know that answer, but you could tell that we chased a lot more and they took advantage of it.”
Todd Zolecki of MLB.com indicated that the Phillies’ offense chased 36 percent of pitches outside the zone during NLCS Games 3-7. Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner, and Johan Rojas swung at 50 percent of the pitches they saw that were not strikes.
This wasn’t just a problem for the club in the NLCS. During the regular season, Phillies hitters swung at pitches out of the zone at the fifth-highest rate (34.7 percent) in MLB. This figure undoubtedly led to the club striking out at a rate over one percent higher than the league average.
Discipline at the plate should be a priority for the team to focus on heading into next season. Nothing is more frustrating than watching hitters strike out in non-competitive at-bats in big spots. In the Phillies’ case, it was one of the factors that led to their disappointing postseason exit.
