Philadelphia Phillies' Star Living Up To Hype

Bryson Stott is opening eyes cross the MLB in his second season playing at the major league level. After being selected in the first round by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2019, he made his debut on April 8 in 2022.

Since that moment, the second baseman has shown that he's one of the best players on the Phillies and exceeded all expectations that was placed on him heading into 2023.

During his first year in the majors, Stott played 127 games and finished the year hitting .234/295/.358 with 10 home runs and 49 RBI.

Coming into the 2023 season, FanGraphs gave a projection on how they thought every player would perform during the year. They predicted that the 25-year-old would have an fWAR of 2.0 and an OPS of .688 at the plate. His wins above replacement figure of 2.0 projected that he was much better than the average player at his position.

Stott has exceeded those numbers so far this season. His fWAR entering Saturday is 3.6 and his OPS is .785, continuing to show that he's an elite level hitter.

Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru of MLB.com writes, "He's made vast improvements against fastballs -- usually a pretty strong benchmark when evaluating young players -- having gained 123 points on his average (to .332) and 155 on his SLG (to .479). He hasn't sacrificed anything in terms of discipline, either, as his whiff rate (15.2%) ranks in the 95th percentile."

When the Phillies brought in Trea Turner this offseason, it allowed them to move Stott to his natural position of second base. That's taken his defensive game to the next level being +9 Outs Above Average after being -1 in 2022 rotating between multiple infield positions.

The second baseman is turning into a star and is showing that he'll be a big part of Philadelphia's team going forward.