Bryson Stott has always seemed to possess the skillset to be a good leadoff hitter, at least in theory. He has good contact skills, he runs very deep counts, he fouls off pitches, and he has good speed on the bases. That blend of talent has naturally led many to believe he should be the one to hit atop the Phillies order.
Those people have gotten their wish in 2025. Stott has been the team’s regular leadoff hitter against right-handed pitching. It’s equaled to 35 of Stott’s 54 games played entering Wednesday that saw him hitting first in the Phillies order. The results were very good for the first month of the season, as Stott hit .311 with an .827 OPS in 68 plate appearances hitting leadoff in the months of March and April. His on-base percentage, arguably the most important statistic for a leadoff man, was a very good .368.
But in the ensuing months, the results haven’t been as good. In 96 plate appearances batting leadoff across May and early June, Stott is hitting .202 with a .546 OPS. His OBP in that timeframe is a paltry .253 and he has 18 strikeouts in 21 games. He’s still running deep counts, averaging 4.8 pitches per plate appearances across May and June to go with his season average of 4.5, but he’s not ending those long PAs with actually getting on base,
Part of this is that Stott had a rough month of May regardless of where he batted in the order. He hit just .216 overall with a .561 OPS across 24 games in the month of May. It’s not that he’s struggled batting leadoff and excelled when he bats lower in the order when a lefty is on the mound. Stott’s been struggling period,
Meanwhile, Trea Turner, the team’s leadoff hitter against lefties, has been hitting very well when batting first. Turner sports a .316 AVG when batting leadoff to go with an .856 OPS, albeit in less than half the number of PAs (80) as Stott (164) so far this season. However, half of Turner’s PAs hitting leadoff have come in the months of May and June. In that span, Turner’s hitting .326 with a .988 OPS. He’s had much better production than Stott even if he doesn’t offer the same patience at the plate. Turner’s averaged 3.7 pitches per plate appearances since the start of May and is averaging 3.8 for the season.
Changing the leadoff hitter would have ramifications for the rest of the lineup. If Stott were to move down for the time being, the majority of the rest of the lineup would likely move up one spot. That would take Kyle Schwarber out of the cleanup spot and rather give that position to either Alec Bohm or Nick Castellanos. Bohm has recovered from a brutal start and Castellanos has been consistently solid, but neither have offered a whole lot of power so far in 2025.
So, should the Phillies move Bryson Stott out of the leadoff spot? Should they make Turner the everyday leadoff hitter? Or should they try someone else against righties? Or should they leave the lineup as is and give Stott time to try and figure it out?