Philadelphia Phillies infielder Bryson Stott is in position for a rebound season in 2025. Stott dealt with an elbow injury for most of the 2024 season, according to Jim Salisbury of PHLY. During the winter meetings, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told Salisbury about this. The injury came during a May game against the Miami Marlins. Stott played through the injury for the remainder of the season. Additionally, Stott told reporters at the start of spring training that it was a nerve issue, specifically according to MLB.com reporter Todd Zolecki. This injury likely contributed to struggles that led to calls to bench Stott at one point. Edmundo Sosa was also playing well when Stott struggled the most last season.
2025 Spring Training Success
In 12 spring training games, Stott has a .333/.514/.444 line with one home run and five RBI. Stott has a 167 wRC+ along with a .449 wOBA in spring training. Furthermore, Stott has a .364 BABIP this spring. Stott has a 10.8% strikeout rate this spring as well as a 27.0% walk rate. While Stott has one extra-base hit this spring, his walk rate improvement and OBP departments are a welcome sign. Stott has not had a walk rate better than 10.0% in any of his three major league seasons. To add Stott has not had a strikeout rate lower than 15.0% in any of his three major league seasons. Stott has a 32.3% swing rate in spring training. In each of his three major league seasons, Stott has had a 40.0% or higher swing rate.
Stott has also improved in the batted ball department. This spring Stott has a 2.00 GB/FB rate and a 34.8% line drive rate. Stott had a 1.17 GB/FB rate and a 20.0% line drive rate in 2024. Last season Stott had a 36.9% fly ball rate. Meanwhile, Stott has a 21.7% fly ball rate in spring training. Stott also does not hit the ball on the opposite field as often. Last season Stott hit the ball to the opposite field 30.3% of the time. Stott has hit the ball to the opposite field 17.4% of the time this spring. Leading into spring training there was talk about Stott being the leadoff hitter this season. If Stott is able to carry these improvements over to the regular season, he might eventually end up in the leadoff role. Stott will probably not be the regular leadoff hitter this year though.
Down Year In 2024 Relative To 2023
Stott was considered a breakout candidate heading into 2024. In 2023 Stott had a .280/.329/.419 line with 15 home runs and a career-best 62 RBI in 151 games. Stott had a 101 wRC+ and a .323 wOBA in 2023. In addition, Stott had a .312 BABIP that season. Stott had a career-best 15.6% strikeout rate and a career-worst 6.1% walk rate in 2023. That season, Stott had a 4.2 fWAR, which is his lone major league season with a 2.0fWAR or better. Stott had a career-best 9.4% HR/FB rate in 2023. For comparison, Stott has a 20.0% HR/FB rate this spring. Stott also recorded a career-best 4.7% barrel rate in 2023. Defensively, Stott had a career-high 16 Outs Above Average and a career-high 12 Fielding Run-Value, exclusively playing second base in 2023.
In 2024 Stott had a .245/.315/.356 line with 11 home runs and 57 RBI in 148 games last season. Stott had an 88 wRC+ as well as a .296 wOBA in 2024. Last season Stott recorded a .275 BABIP as well. Stott did have a career-high 32 stolen bases last season. Entering 2025 Stott has had at least 3o stolen bases in each of the last two seasons. Stott had a 16.3% strikeout rate along with a career-best 9.3% walk rate last year. Defensively, Stott had recorded two Outs Above Average and one Fielding Run Value at second base last season. Stott spent some time at shortstop last season while Trea Turner was injured. If Stott can rebound in 2025, it would be a welcome sign for the Phillies. Stott has shown signs of a bounce-back during spring training.
Main Photo Credits: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
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