Ranking the top five most valuable Phillies position players in 2023
A lot occurs in 162 games, and the Philadelphia Phillies, like other teams, had their ups and downs.
Which position players emerged as the Most Valuable Phillies of 2023 after a six-month endurance
that is the MLB season?
For this exercise, we’ll look at each player’s total contribution to the team during the regular season
using Fan Graphs’ Wins Above Replacement (fWAR) statistic.
What is WAR? Simply explained, it’s a method developed by baseball stats geeks “to summarize a
player’s total contributions to their team in one statistic,” according to FanGraphs’ Piper Slowinski.
According to Piper, “WAR is all-inclusive and provides a useful reference point for comparing
players” and shows us how much a player is worth to their squad in comparison to a replacement
player.
Let’s get started right now.
First and foremost, which players almost missed the cut and must settle with honorable mention?
Both Johan Rojas and Kyle Schwarber finished the regular season with 1.4 WAR, narrowly missing
out on a spot in the top five.
Despite making his debut in mid-July and appearing in only 59 games, Rojas compiled 1.4 WAR.
He accomplished this through a mix of elite defense and a nefarious offensive approach. The 23-
year-old center fielder hit.302/.342/.430 with an outrageously lucky.410 BABIP while stealing 14
bags.
Schwarber’s.474 slugging percentage and 47 home runs earned him a 1.4 WAR. Before taking up
permanent residence in the DH position, he was held back by his.197 hitting average and poor
fielding in left field. According to Fan Graphs, the 30-year-old slugger had a 16.4 offensive rating
and a -26.5 defensive rating.
So, who will be the top five Phillies position players in 2023?
No. 5: J.T. Realmuto, 1.5 fWAR
J.T. Realmuto’s value can’t be overstated. Now 32 years old, Realmuto continues to be a workhorse
behind the plate for the Phillies.
In his fifth year in red pinstripes, Realmuto didn’t have the same impact this season as in previous
years, finishing with 1.5 WAR. Last season, he amassed 6.5 WAR, and in 2021 he registered 4.6
WAR.
But when Rob Thomson knows he can pencil Realmuto in behind the plate so frequently, it makes
his job much easier. Not to mention the pitching staff’s comfort level in throwing to him.
Realmuto played in 135 games this season and had 540 plate appearances, ranking him seventh
behind some of the top catchers in baseball. Most impressively, he appeared in 130 games as the
backstop, not as the designated hitter, like many top-end catchers play a good chuck of their games.
His 535 plate appearances as a catcher were far and away the most in the majors this season.
The 10-year veteran didn’t have the same stellar offensive season as years past, hitting .252 — his
lowest mark since his brief debut in 2014. But he still contributed 20 home runs, 63 RBI, and 70
runs scored.
No. 4: Bryce Harper, 3.3 fWAR
We all know about Bryce Harper’s miraculous return from Tommy John surgery and his
commitment to helping his team by taking up a new position halfway through a career on a Hall-of-
Fame trajectory.
Thanks to his quick recovery, Harper had a significant impact on the 2023 Phillies and helped carry
them to the postseason. He accumulated his 3.3 WAR in 126 games and 546 plate appearances. But
when you consider how long it took the two-time MVP to look like himself, he actually piled up the
WAR value in a hurry over the second half of the season.
From his May 2 debut until the end of June, he hit .283 with a .768 OPS and three home runs in 49
games. While it was expected that it would take a while for Harper to hit like Harper, Phillies fans
were waiting for that day to come as the team bumbled along.
From July 1 onward, he slashed .300/.413/.575. That’s a much more Harper-esque .988 OPS. He
mashed 18 home runs, piled up 52 RBI, and scored 56 runs over 77 games, good for a 163 wRC+ as
the team took off and powered into the top Wild Card spot.
He had his hottest stretch at the plate in the second half of August, when he posted a .458 batting
average and 1.636 OPS, with eight long balls, 17 RBI, and 16 runs scored over 13 games from Aug.
16 to Aug. 30.
No. 3: Brandon Marsh, 3.4 fWAR
In his first full year in Philadelphia, Brandon Marsh had a breakout season, registering a career-
high 3.4 WAR. He started 116 games in the outfield for the Phillies and appeared in 144 games
across all three positions. He began the year as the everyday center fielder before eventually
shifting between center and left field with the arrival of Johan Rojas.
In his third year in the majors, Marsh set career highs with a .277 batting average, an .829 OPS and
a 125 wRC+ while batting in the middle to bottom of the order. He also set new career marks in
home runs with 12, RBI with 60, and runs scored with 58. He added value on the bases with a 3.1
BsR and matched his stolen base total from 2022 with 10.
The wildly bearded and long-haired 25-year-old held his own patrolling the outfield grass. Over his
867 1/3 innings in center field, Marsh had a -3 DRS but registered four OAA (outs above average)
and four RAA (runs above average). When he shifted over to left field, he balanced out his center
field play with three DRS as well as one OAA and one RAA in 136 innings.
No. 2: Trea Turner, 3.8 fWAR
It’s been well-documented by now how poorly Trea Turner’s Phillies career started, how incredible
he ended up being down the stretch, and the general roller coaster of a first season he had in
Philadelphia overall.
The fact that the $300 million shortstop managed to finish with a 3.8 WAR is an impressive feat in
itself. It’s not the 6.4 WAR he had in 2022 or the 6.9 WAR he had in 2021, but Turner finished the
year on such a heater that he turned things around both in the stats and in fans’ minds.
By the end of July, the 30-year-old had accumulated just 1.0 WAR, primarily buoyed by his
phenomenal base running metrics (it certainly wasn’t his offense). At that point in the season, he
had 5.1 BsR with 21 stolen bases. Both numbers were the best on the team.
As for his bat, up to the end of July, he had a -6.2 offensive rating on FanGraphs and was hitting
.242 with a .637 OPS and a 24 percent strikeout rate — yikes! Outside of his 27-game debut season,
Turner had never posted a season strikeout rate above 19.9 percent.
But, after the now-famous standing ovation from the Phillies faithful, Turner kicked his season into
gear and finished with the highest WAR (2.8) on the team over the final two months of the
campaign, proving his value to the club.
He dropped his strikeout rate down to a more Turner-like 17 percent and absolutely raked at the
plate. He hit .317 with a 1.000 OPS and launched 16 home runs, drove in 42, and scored 44 while
swiping nine more bags in 51 games.
He propelled the Phillies into the top Wild Card spot, taking them from a 58-49 record on Aug. 1 to
a 90-72 mark by season’s end. Over that stretch, they grew their slim 0.5 lead in the Wild Card to
6.0 games.
No. 1: Bryson Stott, 3.9 fWAR
Before the season, if you took a poll of who the most valuable Phillies position player would be, it
would be hard to imagine Bryson Stott being at the top of most people’s lists. With names like Bryce
Harper, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and J.T. Realmuto filling out the lineup, Stott would have
been lucky to crack the top three.
But here we are.
After six months of regular season baseball, the 26-year-old Stott sits at the top of the pile with a
3.9 WAR. That ranks him sixth among National League second basemen.
In just his second year in the league, Stott put together an impressive .280/.329/.419 slash line,
swatted 15 home runs, drove in 62, scored 78 times, and stole 31 bases in 151 games. He showed
patience and discipline at the plate, running a 15.6 percent strikeout rate, improving on his 19.1
percent mark from his rookie year.
Stott was a consistent, stable performer throughout the season. He helped stabilize the offense
while other higher-paid and more experienced players got their games in order for the final stretch
drive of the season.
While the former first-round draft pick had a respectable 6.2 offensive rating, his value was really
carried by his base running, with a 5.3 BsR, and his defense. His 11.2 defensive rating placed him
first among qualified NL second basemen. Even Harper emphatically told everyone who would
listen that Stott is the best second baseman in the league.
The slick-fielding Stott was named a Gold Glove award finalist, and the advanced metrics bear out
that honor. He finished third among NL second basemen with six DRS and ranked first with 16
OAA, 12 RAA, and a 4.9 UZR (ultimate zone rating).
Bryson Stott is the Most Valuable Phillies position player from 2023.
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