Philadelphia Phillies: A medical marvel with 3 Achilles heels

Oh, the 2022 Philadelphia Phillies. You’ve lived up to the least of expectations. The strategy of hammering your way to a playoff spot just isn’t coming together.

The Phillies certainly seem to have a lineup capable of scoring ten runs on any given night. Just as often, everyone seems to take the entire nine innings off from hitting whatsoever. They are an incredibly flawed bunch. They also happen to be a medical marvel.

Typically, two Achilles heels are all you will find on any person and even a baseball team. The Phillies, defying normalcy, somehow have gotten to late May with three of them. None are absolute surprises. By themselves, the team could overcome. Together, these three Achilles heels are holding the Phillies back and remain major weaknesses that when exposed can force the team to collapse for an evening.

1. Philadelphia Phillies Achilles heel: The defense.

It’s as bad as imaginable. One play in their Wednesday performance against the Atlanta Braves summed it all up:

With this kind of defense, this year’s team wouldn’t even be able to make it to Williamsport.

We knew the Phillies were going to stink on this side of the ball. For J.T. Realmuto to throw wild and three Phillies players to touch the ball and have it slip by them is whatever the opposite of a miracle is.

Although the Phillies don’t lead the league in errors or own the worst fielding percentage, it’s clear how flawed they are even when making the most routine of plays. The absence of Bryce Harper from being able to play the field has pushed Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber into the field each game when the reigning National League MVP does get a start. Phillies fans were hopeful Castellanos and Schwarber wouldn’t get to acquainted with their gloves this year—at least not on the same day on a regular basis.

The Phillies might not lose every day because of their defense but they also aren’t going to win very many because of it.