Phillies reasoning for offensive struggles sounds crazier than it really is

Phillies reasoning for offensive struggles sounds crazier than it really is originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Now that Rob Thomson is officially gone, there are a lot of things we should look at regarding the Philadelphia Phillies and the season they've had.

On the surface, the Phillies have not done enough on either side of the baseball, but the offensive issues continue to be the biggest concern.

Over the past few years, there have been moments when the Phillies offense is among the best in Major League Baseball.

At other points, they can't hit big-time arms and often strike out too much.

One of the bigger problems throughout this season is that Philadelphia hasn't been hitting left-handed pitching well, and the latest report from The Athletic suggests why that might be happening.

“To Long, the struggles partly come back to the lack of a lefty batting practice arm,” Charlotte Varnes wrote. “The Phillies were without one until a few days ago, when Logan Mathieu joined the team. Long, who would typically throw lefty batting practice, had surgery last August and is still unable to throw. Bullpen coach Cesár Ramos and assistant pitching coach Mark Lowy throw lefty batting practice, but can’t during games. Mathieu can.”

In order for any team in Major League Baseball to find success against guys throwing from the left side of the plate, they have to practice it.

There are a lot of other ways to do that nowadays, with machines being able to replicate arm angles and whatnot, but not having any batting practice against left-handed pitching doesn't make it all too surprising that Philadelphia has struggled against that side of arms in recent weeks.

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