Philadelphia Phillies' Glaring Weakness From Last Year May Still be Problem

The Philadelphia Phillies may not have done enough to address their biggest weakness from last season.

Oct 8, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Nick Castellanos (8) reacts in the eighth inning against the New York Mets during game three of the NLDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Citi Field. | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The Philadelphia Phillies have had one of the best rosters in baseball for a couple of years now, but one weakness has continued to plague them. That doesn't look like it will change in 2025.

MLB data account BrooksGate recently released a ranking of each team's projected fWAR from their outfield and designated hitter. The Phillies unit, which was their worst group on the field a year ago, ranks all the way down at 22nd in the league with a combined 8.2 fWAR.

Despite this being by fair their weakest position group, little was done to address it this past offseason.

The only real change made to the group was that Max Kepler was brought in on a one-year deal and will be their starting left fielder to start the campaign.

Kepler is projected to finish with 1.4 fWAR this season, which is the second-lowest in the starting lineup. That number is also mostly because he is an above average defender, as he is incredibly inconsistent at the plate.

He is coming off of a season in which he posted a .253/.302/.380 slash line with eight home runs and 42 RBI. The year before that, he hit 24 homers in just 25 more games.

The only player projected to finish with less than him is starting right fielder Nick Castellanos at just 0.5 fWAR. There were stretches in which Castellanos was one of the only things working about the offense last year, but overall it was still a letdown.

Add in the fact that he is among the worst defenders in all of baseball, and it is hard to get too excited about his contributions at 33 years old.

Brandon Marsh is at least expected to be above league average with 2.5 fWAR, but that is still tied for third-worst in the lineup with J.T. Realmuto. That speaks more to how top-heavy Philadelphia is, though.

Marsh is a great defensive presence and has been reliably above average at the plate during his time with the Phillies.

Unsurprisingly, the top player in this group is projected to be Kyle Schwarber at designated hitter with 2.6 fWAR.

Schwarber finished last year with the fifth-most fWAR for a DH and third-most in the NL.

His batting average jumped all the way up from .197 to .248 last season and he was still able to smack 38 home runs.

Philadelphia is still plenty talented to dominate the regular season, but will need their outfield be step up in October. There is also obviously a great chance that this is a group addressed closer to the trade deadline, since they didn't do much in these last few months.