1 move the Phillies must make to save season after firing Rob Thomson

The Philadelphia Phillies fired their manager and got hot. Was it the new guy in control, or just the players waking up? But here is one move the Phillies must make to save the season after firing Rob Thomson.

The good news is the Phillies have gone 8-2 since replacing Thomson with Don Mattingly. Heading into Friday’s game, they stood at 17-21 but were still nine games behind the frontrunning Braves in the NL East.

But the team and general manager Preston Mattingly still have issues to address if they want to be a legitimate player in the playoff picture. And the biggest comes from the everyday lineup.

Phillies need to add a right-handed power bat

The Phillies’ struggles against left-handed starters have been well noted. There are 1-10 on the season, finally earning a win on Wednesday as the Athletics sent Jeffrey Springs to the mound.

But overall, the Phillies are hitting only .202 against left-handers compared to .244 versus righties. And their slugging percentage is a meager .331.

The biggest portion of their pop comes from left-handed batters Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. The guy who is supposed to help with that, Adolis Garcia, is hitting only .250 with two homers and five RBIs against left-handers.

Part of the problem is that the Phillies didn’t plan well, according to ESPN.

“Kyle Schwarber is still mashing, but his overall numbers have regressed,” Bradford Doolittle wrote. “And that’s something that should have been baked into the Phillies’ plan. Bryce Harper has been fine, but fine is not the word you want associated with Bryce Harper, though it applied to the 2025 season as well.

“Maybe those two stars, as well as Trea Turner, get hot under Mattingly. But even if they do, the Phillies have holes all over the place and a lackluster bench to boot.”

Even the hope of a boost from the return of J.T. Realmuto doesn’t offer a great deal of promise.

“There are a ton of questions among rival evaluators about whether this group will rebound, given that some are on the down sides of their respective careers,” Buster Olney wrote. “Can the Phillies reasonably expect that J.T. Realmuto’s offense improves after he is activated off the injured list? Bryce Harper is a future Hall of Famer, but could he get back to being an MVP candidate in 2026?

“Adolis Garcia has largely struggled offensively since the 2023 postseason; is he going to get better? Alec Bohm has had personal issues; how much are those weighing on him?”

So the Phillies need to add a new bat. And there are two guys they should seriously target.

Phillies should go after OF Byron Buxton or 2B Ketel Marte

Yes, Buxton comes with a rather large injury risk. But the Phillies should get in line. They need more run production, according to ESPN.

“Is a league-average offense possible?” Jeff Passan wrote. “The Phillies are 27th in MLB in runs scored. They’re barely getting on base 30% of the time and have a bottom-10 slugging percentage, too. Beyond Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Brandon Marsh, they don’t have a hitter with an above-average wOBA.

“The Phillies have plenty of areas to improve to even make the postseason.”

Buxton hasn’t been great with runners in scoring position. He had a season-opening 0-for-20 streak with runners in scoring position. But he said he believes the hits are coming, according to The Athletic.

“That’s where you get your money at,” Buxton said. “But there’s other parts of the game where I’ve been doing what I’m supposed to be doing, getting better. I don’t (focus) on negatives. Stay on the positives, things that click. Just like my at-bats coming around. I said it was going to click. Everybody else was the ones panicking. Not me.”

Marte would be the fallback option. He’s struggling this year. Across his 33 games, he is batting .221 with three doubles and five homers. His OPS is .651. And his nine extra-base hits are the second fewest for Marte in his career at this point in each of his 12 seasons, according to Stathead.

But the turnaround could be coming. He has recorded 34 outs with a defined “hard-hit ball” at 95 mph. That’s tied for second-most in the majors, according to baseballsavant.mlb.com. At 100 mph, he’s still second with 23. Up to 105 mph, he’s tied for most with 13.

It’s bad luck, according to arizonasports.com.

“We’ve looked every which way and truth is he’s been if not the unluckiest, one of the unluckiest hitters in baseball,” D-backs hitting coach Joe Mather told ArizonaSports.com. “The balls are smoking right at guys. Pitchers are not throwing him good pitches to hit a lot and he’s still (hitting the ball hard). … Big thing with us is making sure, yes everything is lining up mechanically, but at the same time keeping him positive.”

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