Which position player ended up being the most valuable this season among the Phillies’ group of superstars?
Over the course of 162 games, a lot can happen, and the Philadelphia Phillies experienced their fair share of ups and downs, just like other teams. Which position players emerged as the Phillies’ most valuable player of 2023 after the six-month marathon that is the MLB season?
Using FanGraphs’ Wins Above Replacement (fWAR) statistic, we will be examining each player’s total contribution to the team during the regular season for this exercise.
Not sure what WAR is? It’s a method, to put it simply, that baseball stats nerds developed “to summarize a player’s total contributions to their team in one statistic,” according to FanGraphs’ Piper Slowinski.
According to Piper, WAR tells us what a player is worth to their team in comparison to a replacement player and is all-inclusive and provides a good reference point for comparing individuals.
Now, without further ado, let’s get started.
First, who of the players barely made the cut and will have to make do with an honorable mention?
Both Kyle Schwarber and Johan Rojas finished the regular season with 1.4 WAR, narrowly missing out on a spot in the top five.
Despite playing in just 59 games and making his debut in mid-July, Rojas managed to accumulate 1.4 WAR. He achieved it by combining his formidable attacking game with his elite defense. With an absurdly fortunate.410 BABIP, the 23-year-old center fielder slashed.302/.342/.430 and stole 14 bags.
Thanks to his 47 home runs and.474 slugging percentage, Schwarber ended with a 1.4 WAR. Before relocating permanently to the DH position, his.197 hitting average and poor left field defense kept him back. The 30-year-old slugger’s offensive rating was 16.4 and his defensive rating was -26.5, according to FanGraphs.
Who, then, did rank among the Phillies’ five most valuable position players for 2023?
