Philadelphia Phillies: Five Areas Where They Need Improvement

By Chuck Booth | May 30, 2016

May 29, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies left fielder Tyler Goeddel (2) fields a ball hit by Chicago Cubs catcher Miguel Montero (47) in the fifth inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports /

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The Philadelphia Phillies’ offense is bad. Real bad.

Let’s throw out a few numbers .235/.291/.362. That’s the slash line for the Philadelphia Phillies’ offense as a whole. If one player was putting up those numbers on their own everyone would be calling for them to immediately be designated for assignment but with it being a problem for the offense as a whole it’s hard to blame one player in particular.

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While there have been a few main culprits (Ryan Howard, Cesar Hernandez, Peter Bourjos) everyone usually struggles together (outside of Odubel Herrera) and that’s a reflection on the hitting coach.

Steve Henderson has been the hitting coach of the Philadelphia Phillies since 2012 and during the past few years, the offense has been underwhelming for the Philadelphia Phillies. Henderson preaches patience at the plate which has helped some players like Odubel Herrera but his approach has caused some of the Phillies more aggressive hitters like Cesar Hernadez and Maikel Franco to regress. Hernandez has actually been the worst hitting second basemen in baseball this season.

This isn’t a call for Henderson to be fired (although if the Phillies have a better option in mind it may be worth a shot) but he needs to take a more individualized approach.

Another place for improvement for the Philadelphia Phillies is on the base paths. The Phillies have a 52% success rate on stolen bases and have been caught stealing 17 times on the year. That’s a number that adds up quickly for a team that doesn’t score many runs. The first and third base coaches need to work with runners on timing and getting good jumps.

Next: Paging Ryan Howard

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