Philadelphia Phillies Superstar's Slow Start Dooming Their Offense
It's been a clear different look for the Philadelphia Phillies' offense and a lot of that can be attributed to their superstar having the worst start to a season of his career.
The Philadelphia Phillies are struggling on offense.
That is evident.
Entering Monday's game against the Colorado Rockies, the Phillies have scored 58 runs. That puts them 24th in the MLB, but even more concerning, they rank last in the National League with 3.63 runs per game.
One of the major reasons why this offense looks so different than in years past is because their superstar Bryce Harper is off to the worst start of his entire career.
The two-time MVP has gone 2-for-27 in the last seven games without an extra-base hit and eight strikeouts, putting his batting average at .190.
This is not the Harper that Philadelphia has become accustomed to seeing.
It's still early as they're only 16 games into 162 contests that will be played during the regular season, so there is plenty of time for the superstar to figure things out and remind everyone just how potent of a hitter he is.
But, during his struggles, it's not a surprise that the Phillies are having issues.
"When a 3-hole hitter isn't really doing his job, it's tough to win. I just gotta go out there, strive, and continue doing the things I need to do to help this team win," Harper said after the game on Friday.
There's a real chance that things start getting back to normal for the lefty slugger soon.
In 2023, when he hit 21 homers and had a slugging percentage of .499 after Tommy John surgery, he had an average exit velocity of 91.2 mph, hard hit percentage rate of 46.9, and a ground ball to fly ball ratio of 0.81.
This season, his average exit velocity is 91.1 mph, his hard hit rate is 47.6%, and his GB/FB ratio is 0.68.
So, why is he struggling so much then?
Much of it has to do with being unlucky as he had a batting average on balls in play of .352 in 2023, while he currently sits with a BAbip of .205 through his 15 games.
Things will turn around for Harper, and when they do, this offense should start looking like it used to.
