The Phillies’ climb back into the National League East race has been powered by the kind of offense that can win in more than one way, and Kyle Schwarber sees Luis Arráez as a big reason why.
Philadelphia, once buried after that rough 9-19 start, is now 79-61 and sitting four games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves. The timing sets up a massive stretch, with the two clubs meeting in Philadelphia for a four-game series from Friday through Monday before facing off again in Atlanta next weekend for three more.
It’s a strange little quirk of the schedule: the Phillies and Braves haven’t played a series against each other since those two meetings in late April. Atlanta took five of six then, but that was before Schwarber and the Phillies’ offense really hit its stride.
Schwarber has been right at the center of it. The 33-year-old returned to Philadelphia on a five-year, $150 million deal this past offseason and has delivered the kind of production the Phillies expected, playing in 134 games and hitting .240/.355/.517 with an .872 OPS, 40 home runs and 83 RBIs.
His perspective on Arráez came in an article by Bob Nightengale of USA Today, where Schwarber made the case that the deadline addition gives the lineup a different look.
‘“He just adds diversity to our lineup,” Schwarber says, “and shows us that we can score runs in different ways. It doesn’t have to be by the home run.
It can be just putting balls in play, moving guys around. We’ve got a lot of tools in the bag now.
You can see the difference he’s made to our entire team.”’
Arráez arrived from the San Francisco Giants on Aug. 3 in a deal that sent an assortment of minor league pitching prospects the other way. The 29-year-old is in his eighth MLB season and has already played for five different teams, with four of those stops coming in the last three seasons.
He’s built a reputation as one of the game’s most contact-driven hitters, and that profile has fit the Phillies’ needs. Since joining Philadelphia, Arráez is slashing .280/.295/.383 with a .678 OPS. The overall line is down, but he has driven in a good amount of runs and struck out only four times in 112 plate appearances.
For a Phillies team that has been through plenty of October runs, that kind of approach looks tailor-made for the stretch ahead.
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