Let’s talk pitch usage!
The Phillies enter Thursday just one game back from the New York Mets in the NL East. Last week, the Phillies played some of their worst baseball while the Mets went on a winning streak. This week, the opposite has happened.
Ranger Suárez Tweaks
Suárez’s arsenal and command make him one of the best pitchers to watch from start to finish. He has six pitches that he can spot on multiple corners of the plate to always look for adjustments during a season.
He took a leap during the first half of 2024 and made the NL All-Star team but he had a 6.07 ERA in his final 10 starts. 2025 has looked more like the first half of 2024; he has a 2.20 ERA in nine starts and has looked like one of the best left-handed pitchers in the sport.
Suárez tweaked his pitch usage by leaning into more changeups and cutters and cutting back in curveballs.
On the surface, it would’ve been an odd adjustment after last season. His curveball was easily the best offering he had, allowing a .189 batting average and generating a 33.9% whiff rate. Part of this adjustment is because his curveball hasn’t played the same, with a decline in whiff rate by 12.5%.
However, some of this is also to limit damage. his changeup and cutter have lower hard-hit rates and his changeup has played like an elite pitch. Opponents are hitting just .215 against his changeup with a 34.8% whiff rate.
The other noticeable change has been in his four-seam fastball location. He threw it high in the zone against right-handed hitters in 2024 but has lowered it closer to the inside part of the plate as a freeze or jam pitch in 2025.
2024:
BaseballSavant
2025:
BaseballSavant
This works better with his cutter against right-handed hitters and has limited damage. Right-handed hitters hit .236 with a .348 slugging against his four-seam fastball last season. in 2025, they’re hitting .136 with a .273 slugging.
Little tweaks like this are why Ranger Suárez continues to grow as a pitcher. He will be a fascinating free agent this offseason with a loaded starting pitching market but he’s going to make one team very happy.
Brandon Marsh’s June
Last week, I wrote about my concerns with the outfield and specifically touched on Brandon Marsh’s batted ball profile.
Since then, Max Kepler has been great and Nick Castellanos had a weird benching controversy but has otherwise been fine. He made a solid catch to save a game against the Marlins Wednesday night.
I am writing about Marsh’s batted ball profile again since June looks much more like previous years compared to April and May.
It’s an extremely small sample size but Marsh’s ground ball rate is back to normal at 37.9%, his line drive rate is at 27.6%, and he is hitting a normal amount of flyballs again. He is still not pulling the ball as much but the rest looks like Brandon Marsh.
He has turned this into a productive month of June as a platoon player, hitting .378 with a .955 OPS. Those numbers won’t sustain long term but Marsh has once again become their best outfielder, which isn’t the best sign for the overall group but is important long term. Max Kepler is a free agent this offseason and the Phillies should probably cut Nick Castellanos after the season. It’s hard enough needing to replace two starting outfielders.