Surprising Revelation Suggests Why Philadelphia Phillies Youngster Struggled in 2024

For the third year in a row, the Philadelphia Phillies are going to rely on their current group of core players to lead them to a World Series title.

It could be worse.

Despite the negative sentiment surrounding this group after back-to-back frustrating eliminations in the playoffs following their magical run to the Fall Classic in 2022, having Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos and J.T. Realmuto in the lineup allows them to hang with anyone in Major League Baseball.

Combine that with the elite one-two punch of Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola leading the rotation, and Ranger Suarez, Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo behind them, and there is enough in place for them to win a championship.

But like the last two seasons have shown, it takes more than just these names to win.

Bryson Stott was supposed to be the guy who supplemented the current crop of stars, becoming one in his own right and leading the next era of Phillies baseball alongside Harper and Turner.

It looked like that was going to be the case.

He had a breakout year in 2023, slashing .280/.329/.419 with 15 homers, 62 RBI, an OPS+ of 103 and a bWAR of 4.3.

With another offseason to prepare, the hope was he would take his game to the next level this past year, truly becoming one of the best second basemen in the game.

That didn't happen, though.

Stott regressed mightily, slashing .245/.315/.356 with 11 homers, 57 RBI, an OPS+ of 89 and a bWAR of 2.5.

It was concerning to see him struggle so mightily at the plate, but apparently there was a reason why.

"He had a sore elbow for a lengthy period last year. It was nothing major, per se, but enough that it bothered him a lot from an extension perspective," Dave Dombrowski said according to Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Because of that, Stott reportedly changed his swing, "creating a loop where it had been flat" according to manager Rob Thomson.

"In his mind, possibly he's attacking the ball the right way, and all of a sudden [the elbow injury] comes into his mind, he kind of decelerates, the barrel gets under his hands. All of a sudden, you're flipping balls to left field, which you saw a lot of, instead of driving the ball to left-center," the skipper said.

Whether or not people want to view this as an excuse doesn't matter.

Something clearly was affecting Stott and his ability to hit the baseball.

With an offseason that allowed his body time to heal, this upcoming campaign is truly going to reveal if he is the type of above-average hitter he showed during his second year in the league, or if he is someone who doesn't have upside with the bat in his hands.

Thomson thinks it's the former, providing optimism for what's to come from Stott.

"We think that he's going to have a much better year. He's healthy, and he's working right now at getting flatter and getting back to seeing the baseball and working counts and using the entire field," he added.

Time will tell if that comes to fruition.