DENVER — Bryson Stott saw 17 pitches in Sunday’s loss to the Colorado Rockies, and he swung at eight of them. This is notable because Stott has swung at almost half of the pitches he’s seen this season, a very un-Stott-like approach at the plate. He’s developed a reputation as one of the league’s more passive hitters, someone who’s willing to take pitches early in the count, then hit with two strikes.
He’s batted fifth in Rob Thomson’s lineup for seven of the Phillies’ nine games. After an 0-for-4 Sunday, Stott has a .535 OPS with only one extra-base hit. He spent all of two games in 2025 as the No. 5 hitter. So is Stott swinging more to do more damage because he’s batting fifth?
“No, I think it’s just not been ready to hit more, I guess,” Stott said. “Obviously, it’s out that I don’t swing.”
Only 12 qualified hitters in MLB swung at a lower percentage of pitches than Stott did in 2025. It’s a conscious change, and so far, it is a work in progress. Stott is carrying the highest chase rate among all Phillies hitters; the newfound aggressiveness has not resulted in much this season.
It’s been 10 days. Stott will stick with it.
“I get into hitter’s counts and, in the past, I would either slow down to hit it or something of that nature,” Stott said. “Now, more just taking my ‘A’ swing and if I miss it, I miss it. Instead of getting myself out by check swinging or a soft swinging just to touch it. It’s more of being ultra aggressive on hitter’s counts and going from there.”
The Phillies have a paltry .583 OPS from the No. 5 spot — which, somehow, ranks 20th among 30 teams. Nine games into the season, one of the more obvious potential lineup tweaks for Thomson is to swap Stott with Brandon Marsh, who is hitting .303/.343/.485. He doubled again Sunday in the Phillies’ 4-1 defeat.
The manager won’t consider a change.
“Not yet,” Thomson said. “But, at some point, probably.”
Marsh has hit .303 since May 1, 2025. That ranks fifth among all MLB batters with 400 plate appearances during that span.
“He’s a great athlete,” Thomson said. “Big and strong and fast. He’s got bat speed. I mean, he’s got all the ingredients in there to be a good hitter. And it’s showing right now.”
Taijuan Walker’s ‘rough’ beginning
Taijuan Walker allowed four runs on three homers, including two to former Phillie Mickey Moniak, in Sunday’s loss. (Justin Edmonds / Getty Images)
The Phillies took four of six from expected bottom-dwellers Washington and Colorado. The two losses came in games started by Taijuan Walker. He didn’t miss bats in his first outing and was hurt by weak-contact hits. He missed more bats in his second outing and surrendered three no-doubt home runs.
He’s looked very much like a fifth starter.
“Rough,” Walker said. “I feel like the stuff is good. It’s playing up. But when I’m making mistakes, it’s getting hit right now. So I’m just going to keep building off it and keep going and keep getting better.”
The Phillies need Walker for at least two more turns through the rotation while Zack Wheeler continues his minor-league rehab assignment. Those Walker starts would come against the Arizona Diamondbacks and Atlanta Braves, two teams with far better offenses than the Nationals and Rockies.
Then again, four runs in five innings at Coors Field by your fifth starter should qualify as a success. The Phillies could not support Walker, who had a noticeable uptick in velocity Sunday.
“There’s a lot of intent to all of his pitches,” Thomson said. “He missed a couple of spots in the first inning and paid for it. And then he was really good. He really mixed well until the fifth, when he left a curveball up to (Mickey) Moniak. That’s what happens. But I thought he was fine. He kept us in the game.”
That is all the Phillies will ask from Walker. He’ll continue to start, then could slide into a long reliever role once Wheeler returns later this month. The Phillies will make their first roster move Monday or Tuesday when Orion Kerkering is activated from the injured list. They could demote Kyle Backhus, who has pitched better since Opening Day, to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to make room for Kerkering.
Where Walker fits in the larger picture remains to be seen.
Jhoan Duran’s new pitch
Jhoan Duran and J.T. Realmuto celebrate after a 2-1 win over the Rockies on Saturday. (Christopher Hanewinckel / Imagn Images)
With two strikes and two outs in the ninth inning of Saturday night’s game, J.T. Realmuto punched buttons on his PitchCom, and Jhoan Duran heard the instructions from the receiver in his cap.
Splitter.
This is a new pitch, not to be confused with the “splinker” that has made Duran one of the sport’s best closers. Duran has told Realmuto he wants the splinker to be called on PitchCom as a two-seam fastball because it creates a mentality of getting it down in the zone.
The splitter is designed to work like the splinker. Just slower. Duran has thrown five of them, and the hardest one was the last pitch of Saturday’s game. Willi Castro thought it was the splinker. But it was 90.8 mph, and by the time Castro realized, it was too late. He could not check his swing.
“That one, oof, gross,” Duran said. “That one was good.”
He laughed. This is fun for Duran because this pitch, which is essentially a split-changeup, is something he learned when he was 13 years old. It was his first breaking pitch.
“Same grip now,” Duran said.
Why add a pitch? Duran already has four — the splinker, his traditional four-seam fastball that reaches triple digits, a curveball and a sweeping slider.
“I say if you feel good with five pitches, do it,” Duran said. “Because the hitter, they need to think about everything you throw. You see some outings, sometimes my curveball is not good. Well, I’ve got the sweeper. If the splinker is not good that day, I throw the splitter. You know? I can mix up.”
Duran had toyed with the idea of using the splitter last season, but the Minnesota Twins told him to hang onto it. He still played catch with it. Just to keep it alive. He came to spring training and decided to throw it in a live batting practice session to Alec Bohm.
“Hey, that pitch is nasty,” Bohm told Duran afterward. “Throw it.”
Duran liked it in spring games. So, he’ll go with it.
“I throw so many pitches right now,” Duran said. “And almost everything looks the same, but closer to the batter, they move in different ways.”