The Phillies’ surge has been fueled in part by a pair of bats finally catching fire.
Philadelphia has been one of baseball’s hottest teams since the managerial switch. After starting 9-19, the club moved on from Rob Thomson, with Don Mattingly stepping in on an interim basis. Since then, the Phillies have climbed to 48-38 and sit 2.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East.
A big reason for the rough opening stretch was simple enough: too many regulars weren’t producing. Kyle Schwarber, Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott eventually started to come around, and now Trea Turner and Justin Crawford have joined the turnaround over the last couple of weeks.
As shared by Jack Fritz on X, both players have made changes at the plate. Turner has dropped the leg kick, and the impact has been obvious over his last 13 games.
He had been stuck in a 1-for-16 slump before that, with his line sinking to .216/.268/.326. There were real questions about how long Mattingly could keep him in the leadoff spot while he was scuffling.
Since then, Turner has looked like a different hitter. Over those 13 games, he’s posted a .345/.379/.527 line with two homers, four doubles and seven RBI.
His .425 batting average on balls in play is probably not something that will hold, but the improvement is hard to miss. The hot stretch has pushed his season line to .237/.286/.358.
Trea Turner’s season long WAR is back to 0.0. He’s hitting .345 with a .907 OPS in his last 13 games and has ditched the leg kick.
Justin Crawford, who has also made a swing adjustment (lowered the hands and no stride) is hitting .362 with an .813 OPS in his last 15 games. …
Crawford’s fix has been different, but the results have followed a similar path. The rookie center fielder was struggling badly in his first look at the majors before changing his hand position and removing the stride from his swing. That tweak has helped reduce his groundball rate and led to better production.
In his first 12 games in June, Crawford managed just six hits and didn’t have a single multi-hit game. Over his last 15 games, though, he’s hitting .362/.388/.426 with two doubles and six RBI.
That kind of table-setting matters for an offense built around Turner, Schwarber and Bryce Harper. Crawford getting on base and Turner finding his timing has helped turn the Phillies’ lineup into a much more dangerous unit, and the wins have followed.
In Other News...
Phillies Send Down A Starter Right After He Earned Another Look
The Phillies are making another adjustment to their pitching mix as the All-Star break approaches, optioning Andrew Painter and right-hander Alan Rangel to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Rangel had just earned a longer look in the rotation, and his recent turn gave the club a chance to see how he might fit if they needed another starter down the stretch.
Philadelphia only has to cover the back end of the rotation one more time before the break, and a bullpen game remains in play for next week. Even with the move back to Lehigh Valley, Rangel still looks like a pitcher the Phillies could lean on again later this summer if the need arises. [Read more 🡒]
Phillies Are Trying Another Bullpen Fix Fans Have Seen Before
After splitting a four-game series with the Pirates, the Phillies turned their attention to a three-game set with the Royals and made another bullpen adjustment along the way. Alan Rangel was sent back to the minors, and Tanner Banks was recalled to give the relief group another left-handed option as the club keeps searching for more stability in the middle innings.
Banks has been through this kind of reset before, and the Phillies are clearly hoping a return to the majors helps him settle in. His season has been marked by a 5.86 ERA and control issues, which have made his outings harder to trust, but the organization is giving him another chance to clean things up while the bullpen continues to sort itself out. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Could Steal Philadelphias All-Star Spotlight From The Phillies
Philadelphia is set to host the 2026 NL All-Star Game, and that alone should make the week feel like a showcase for the home club. But one early projection from Bleacher Report suggests the spotlight could tilt in an unexpected direction, with Atlanta forecast to arrive in town as the leagues biggest All-Star contingent. For a Phillies team that expects to be part of the center of the summer baseball conversation, it is the kind of wrinkle that would make the event feel a little less like a homecoming and a little more like a challenge.
Zachary D. Rymers prediction has the Braves sending seven players to the game, a total that would lead the National League if it holds up. The list also comes with some built-in debate about how the roster would be chosen, since not every projected Atlanta name looks like a lock on merit. Philadelphia, meanwhile, is forecast to have a strong showing of its own, but the broader picture is clear enough already: if this projection proves accurate, the All-Star spotlight in Philly could end up shining just as brightly on the visitors as on the team that calls the city home. [Read more 🡒]