Swing away, Phillies. Chase those dingers. Let it fly. Anything but this.
We wanted you to stop chasing so many pitches out of the zone. We didn’t think you’d also stop chasing the pitches over the plate. Please, do whatever it is you were doing before.
Chase!
Please, for the love of all things holy!
We give up!
Sit on the fastball. Load up your back leg. Swing from your heels. Do whatever it is you were doing before. Don’t get me wrong. You’re doing exactly what we asked of you. It’s just that, well, we can’t take it anymore!
I know, I know. Here’s our hat in our hands. It’s not like we’re the first people who have ever reaped what we’ve sown.
But, yes. It was us. We planted the seed.
Draw more walks, we said. Walk, you did. You have 108 of them through 25 games, tied for the major league lead.
» READ MORE: Dave Dombrowski struck gold with Jesús Luzardo. The Phillies’ bullpen is bad enough to undermine that.
Stop swinging so much, we said. Stop swinging, you did. Only four teams in baseball have swung at fewer pitches. Last year, only seven teams swung at more.
Don’t get us wrong. You’ve been the team that we wanted. It’s just that, well, you haven’t been the team that we envisioned.
We wanted you to stop chasing so many pitches out of the zone. We didn’t think you’d also stop chasing the pitches over the plate.
Look at the numbers.
2025 out-of-zone swing percentage: 26.7 (sixth lowest)
2024 out-of-zone swing percentage: 30.4 (sixth highest)
2025 in-zone swing percentage: 63.7 (ninth lowest)
2024 in-zone swing percentage: 66.8 (11th highest)
Don’t get me wrong. There is a place for patience. But there is a thin line between patience and repression. It’s good to regulate your impulses. It’s bad to be dead inside.
The Phillies? They look dead. Through 25 games, they’ve hit 21 home runs with the 10th-lowest slugging percentage in the league. The Cubs have 95 extra-base hits heading into this weekend’s series. The Phillies have 63.
Speaking of dead, the Phillies might fit the clinical definition of it if they get swept by the Cubs. The National League isn’t for the faint of heart. We knew that going in. The troubling thing is that things are playing out how they looked on paper. The Mets (18-7) and Dodgers (16-9) are playing up to their payrolls. The Padres (17-8) are playing like they did the second half of last season. The Cubs (16-10), Giants (17-9) and Diamondbacks (14-10) are sneaky no more.
Bryce Harper was right. It’s never too early for urgency. Five games out of first place is one thing. Three games behind five other teams is a problem.
» READ MORE: The Phillies are who we (should have) thought they were
As it stands right now, they can flip the script on a dime. Take two of three, and they can breathe. But, man, they are as close to a six-alarm Sunday as a team can be before May.
If I’m Rob Thomson, I’m blocking out three hours on the schedule and calling each one of my guys into the office for a five-minute chat. I’m giving each one of them the same simple message.
Forget what we told you. Just be you.
See, here’s the thing. Whoever said that patience is a virtue never tried to patient a ball over an outfield wall. Patience is a great life skill for those who are blessed with it. The best thing for everybody else to do is to make do with what you’ve got.
It was always a foolish idea to think that one of the oldest and most continuous lineups in the majors could radically alter its identity in a single offseason. That’s not to say the Phillies were foolish to try to tinker at the margins. But tinkering comes with risks.
Trea Turner’s .343 on base percentage ain’t no good if it comes with a sub-.700 OPS. It does Alec Bohm no good to try to be something that he’s not if it makes him less of what he is.
The Phillies might have bigger problems than their approach. J.T. Realmuto may no longer be that third middle-of-the-order bat that every great team seems to have. Aaron Nola may no longer be a guy you can count on every five days. Cristopher Sánchez may not be in the extreme minority of pitchers who overcome “forearm soreness.”
» READ MORE: The Phillies after 25 games: April pressure, the bullpen question, and a Brandon Marsh reset
What the Phillies need to focus on is who they can be. Who they are. At times, we have resented them for it. But we also loved them so, so deeply.
A wise man named Red said it best.
Some birds weren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go.
So swing, little birdies. Spread your wings and let your feathers fly. Swing away, little birdies. Better to die standing up than live on your knees.