Where have all the fielders gone?

Philadelphia’s pitching has registered a 4.84 ERA so far. That’s the third-worst mark in the entire league. And if the bats have made for tedious viewing, the arms have made peoples’ brains implode and melt out their ears. The average wOBA on contact of knocks with an exit velocity of 80 mph or less is .225. Against this staff, it’s been .315. That’s 25 points higher than the team behind them. DRA tells a different story, with a league-leading 3.81 mark. The gap between what they’ve absorbed vs. what they’ve earned is second-worst. Yet for both of those parts of the game that have dipped in the early going, perhaps nothing is more frustrating than watching a professional baseball team make errors in the field. View Link We’re so used to watching the Phillies struggle at the plate for long periods of time that we would expect them to perform well at their other job, yet they have not. Their 15 errors in the field is third most in the National League. Considering that they had the third fewest errors in the National League in 2025, this early season lack of performance is concerning. It’s also that the errors they have committed have happened at some of the more inopportune times, perhaps none moreso than the error committed by Edmundo Sosa on Saturday against the Braves. View Link An inning that should have been completed by a routine play was allowed to continue, the Braves capitalizing on it by scoring three runs and sealing the victory. If it feels like the fielding this year has been particularly bad, you’re not alone. Looking at some of the advance numbers, the Phillies are ranking near the bottom of the league in most anything you want to look at as a unit. As of Tuesday, they are:

• 30th in MLB in DRS (-16)
• 15th in MLB in FRV (Fielding Run Value – 0)
• 23rd in OAA (-5)
• 30th in Defensive Efficiency (.631) That’s bad! Now, the general rule of thumb is that fielding stats, even the ones that we would consider to be advanced, are ones that take a long time to stabilize. There is still a lot of noise happening with these stats, making their trustworthiness and accuracy questionable. For example, it’s hard to believe that someone like Bryce Harper, who has been considered an above average fielder since he started playing first base, has suddenly fallen off a cliff and become the absolute worst fielder in the game right now by FRV. Yet there he sits (or sat, as of Tuesday evening). However, with the Phillies as a whole, the numbers seem to match the eye test. They stink right now at defense. That doesn’t mean improvement isn’t forthcoming. We’ve known and heard stories about the work put in with Bobby Dickerson to improve some of the fielders the team has. That work needs to get put in and soon. The way the offense is underperforming, the pitching cannot be forced to make extra pitches constantly due to shoddy defense. They’re already starting to cycle through bullpen arms to keep pitchers fresh, so a better defense can help in a few, small ways to make that slow down. It needs to be better.