The Philadelphia Phillies started the season in a deep hole at 9-19, but have since turned things around, going 21-10 between April 28 and the end of May. But Philadelphia still has flaws heading into the summer, and its biggest is its offense, especially from the right-side.
Trea Turner and Adolis García represent two of the biggest issues in the Phillies lineup. Between April 28 — the day Don Mattingly took over as interim manager — and the end of May, Turner posted a .588 OPS and García posted a .458 OPS. As a group, Phillies right-handed hitters have been the worst in baseball, even since the Phillies corrected course in late April.
During Mattingly’s first 31 games, the Phillies hit .229/.291/.398 as a team. Those numbers were dragged down by the .201/.254/.314 slash line by the team’s right-handed hitters.
Turner’s struggles are perhaps the most worrisome. He was one of the best players in the National League a year ago, winning the league’s batting title with a .304 batting average and finishing fifth in MVP voting. It is hard to pinpoint why Turner is out of whack. Sometimes it’s bad luck. Sometimes it’s not.
Turner is striking out more this year (21.9 percent), hitting less line drives (20.2 percent) and pulling the ball way less (31.1 percent).
A season ago, the Phillies had the shortstop change his approach. They wanted him focusing less on pull-side power and more on being a guy who hit to all fields. They wanted him on base. It worked. But even still, he pulled the ball 38.6 percent of the time, doing so 15.9 percent of the time in the air. Turner’s 13.1 percent rate of pulling balls in the air through this season’s first two months would be the second-lowest of his career.
García’s struggles are less of a surprise. He was a bounce-back candidate entering 2026. After the Texas Rangers non-tendered García last November after back-to-back sub-.700 OPS seasons, the Phillies signed García to a one-year, $10 million deal to replace Nick Castellanos in right field. It’s only kind of worked.
García has been a much better defender than Castellanos ever was for the Phillies. That was expected. But the hope was, at the very least, that García would be around a league-average hitter to make him an overall plus player. His .571 OPS entering June was lower than Castellanos’ OPS (.694) last year.
The Phillies have tried some adjustments with García. He changed his batting stance at times. They wanted him to chase less (he has). But nothing García has changed has worked. Like Turner, he’s not pulling the ball in the air, one of the best ways to create offense in today’s game. García’s 12.1 percent rate of pulling the ball in the air entering June would be the worst of his career.
As a team, the Phillies are last in the majors in pulling the ball in the air (12.7 percent) from the right-side of the plate. They were near the bottom of that leaderboard last year, too. But Turner’s success helped carry the Phillies to a .732 OPS from the right-side. It is fair to wonder if trying to get Turner and García back to pulling more could unlock more production.
Turner and García not producing is not the only reason for Philadelphia’s offensive struggles. The two other important right-handed bats for the Phillies, Alec Bohm and J.T. Realmuto, have not had good seasons. Even with a strong stretch in May, Bohm entered June with a .606 OPS. Realmuto’s OPS entering this month was .595, down from a respectable .700 mark in 2025.
After two months, the Phillies offense is in the basement. It ranked 29th in batting average (.229) entering June. It also fell dead last in on-base percentage (.292), 21st in slugging percentage (.381), 28th in OPS (.673), and 28th in runs per game (3.90).
There are other questions in the lineup. But Turner’s production taking a nose dive is a problem. The Phillies rely on production from their stars to score runs (Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper are carrying their weight). And García’s struggles are part of a lack of depth the Phillies have from the right-side of the plate. He was expected to extend the lineup a little. Bohm is doing so right now. But he can only do so much. Realmuto is also someone that has to be better.
The Phillies have had their flaws in recent years. Just not like this. The lineup is a problem. If Turner, García and others can’t get going, it’s fair to wonder if it’ll be a good summer in South Philly.
