One thing that Phillies fans learned about Gabe Kapler in 2018 was that he likes to tinker ... a lot. The Phillies used 138 different combinations of batting orders last year, and the most they used one batting order was five times. This year, the Phillies have used a grand total of one order.
Kapler has shown a lot of confidence in an order that has Andrew McCutchen leading off, Bryce Harper batting third and Odubel Herrera hitting fifth. He's used the order for every game in the Phillies' 4-0 start, with only the nine slot obviously rotating with whoever is pitching that day. Here's one through eight in the order:
- Andrew McCutchen
- Jean Segura
- Bryce Harper
- Rhys Hoskins
- J.T. Realmuto
- Odubel Herrera
- Cesar Hernandez
- Maikel Franco
Before Tuesday's 8-2 win against the Nationals, Kapler said that that order is working fine, and if it's not broken he won't fix it.
"Instead, I think about pitching," he said, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. "I think about bullpen matchups, like the Nationals' lineup is really good. So figuring out ways to get through that lineup is a pretty big challenge and have lots of conversations with [pitching coach] Chris Young to get his thoughts. I have been spending a lot of time talking with our coaches." Kapler added that "assuming we continue to do very well with this lineup, it's going to be kind of our regular lineup," Kapler said.
The Phillies have looked terrific in the early going this season. They're sixth in baseball in runs, fifth in batting average and sixth in home runs. Part of that is Harper helping Kapler figure out the No. 3 spot. Last year, the Phillies had 13 different players bat third, which cascaded throughout the order and led to the insane amount of orders he ended up using.
Eventually, the Phillies will likely start messing with their lineups again. For the time being, however, all you can do if you're the Phillies is ride it out. The entire team has been raking early this year, and the Phillies look to be one of the tougher teams to beat in baseball. A lot can change very quickly -- and with Kapler you could still end up with 158 different orders this year -- but for the time being the team seems to be humming along just fine.
