Baseball season, is that you?

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By Ryan Chybinski
April 9, 2021

Photo by Ryan Chybinski
Photo by Ryan Chybinski

Baseball season is right around the corner with the Phillies’ spring training already underway. The Phillies enter this season off there back of just missing the playoffs and making improvements to try to ensure that does not happen this year

Right-fielder, Bryce Harper, who is on the third year of his contract, will be returning for the 2021 season. Catcher, J.T. Realmuto, will be returning to the Phillies as well, along with Didi Gregorius, who served as the team’s shortstop last season

Photo by: Ryan Chybinski

Fans are very excited to see the Phillies back in action with high expectations for this roster. One players’ fans expect to have a breakout season is Rhys Hoskins, the starting first baseman, who had elbow surgery last year and is looking to bounce back from it this season.

“I’m gonna go with Rhys Hoskins because I feel like he’s going to come back strong from his elbow surgery and be one of the Phillies best power hitters this year,” Drew Cavanaugh, Applied Data sciences major at Penn State, said.

Hoskins had a .245 batting average last season with 37 hits and 10 home runs in the condensed season. Hoskins also scored 35 runs and had 26 total RBIs.

Another players’ fans expect to have a break-out year is Scot Kingery, the Phillies second baseman.

“I feel like Kingery underperformed last season and he has something to prove this year,” Matthew Rutherford, digital communication major said.

Scott Kingery had a batting average of .159 with 113 at batts and 18 hits. Kingery also had a .228 on-base percentage scoring 12 runs and had six total RBIs.

A spot that fans always hope will have their best season is the pitching staff. For years pitching has been the weak spot in the Phillies roster. This year fans hope

Photo by Ryan Chybinski

the staff will have a strong year but most hope that the bullpen can be more consistent and protect the leaders that the hitters get them. For years the Phillies bullpen has been among the worst in baseball and fans hope that this year is not more of the same.

A final roster spot that fans are expecting to have a breakout season is the manager, Joe Girardi. Fans were super excited when he was announced last season as the new manager but things did not end the way fans had hoped. Girardi ended his first season as the Phillies skipper with a 28-32 record finishing third in the National League East behind the Atlanta Braves and the Miami Marlins.

Some of the Phillies’ and Girardi’s struggles last season can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic that caused a condensed season and affected many games and teams in various ways. Having to navigate these unprecedented times has been difficult for every team in every professional league along with it being Girardi’s first year with a team is a hard recipe to find success in even with the best talent in baseball. With things being a little more certain this season Girardi looks to have a strong second season at the helm of an extremely talented Phillies roster.

Fans are very hopeful heading into the season based on what they have seen in spring training, the biggest test will be how the team faces the big challenges in front of them this season. These challenges include the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and staying healthy and injury-free.

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Ryan Chybinski

Sports editor

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