Philadelphia Phillies: 3 positive takeaways from the season so far
By Tim Boyle
This season hasn’t gone exactly as Philadelphia Phillies fans hoped it would. They can score runs but the bats can also fall silent from the top to the bottom of the order without any notice.
There are plenty of complaints about this team. None are all that surprising. The defense stinks. The bullpen is unreliable. Far too often, the veteran manager looks like he doesn’t know the game he’s coaching.
Philadelphia hasn’t gotten off to the start they needed to. Even so, there are a few positive points to take away from the early performance so far.
Philadelphia Phillies starting pitchers have been pretty good with room for growth.
The team’s starting rotation has managed to piece together a pretty solid start to the year. They have the ace, Zack Wheeler, pitching well after an injury scare in the preseason. Behind him, Aaron Nola looks like a suitable number two although many would hope to get a little more out of him as the season progresses.
The Phillies are also fortunate that Kyle Gibson has been far better for them this year. An All-Star for the Texas Rangers before getting traded to Philadelphia last summer, the team will need to keep their fingers crossed that he doesn’t regress like he did in the second half of 2021.
In the back of the rotation, the Phillies have Zach Eflin and Ranger Suarez. The two younger arms in the starting five, they have their good and bad moments. Unfortunately, it has been more bad than good early on in 2022. Philadelphia will need far more from them. Alone, the Phillies can survive with one in the rotation. However, it feels far more like they have two number five starters.
If each of the starters could level up one—Wheeler becoming more of an ace, Nola a sure-fire number two, Gibson a quality number three, and the pair in the back looking like solid number fours—the Phillies’ rotation could be one of the best in the league. So far, it has just been average.