The Philadelphia Phillies have one of their deepest starting rotations entering the 2025 regular season. Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez and Ranger Suárez will all return for another year with the organization.
President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski added another starter during the offseason, acquiring starter Jesús Luzardo from the Miami Marlins in trade. The left-hander looks like he will enter the season as the Phillies’ fifth starter. He may replace Suárez, who will be a free agent next winter, in the starting rotation in 2026.
The Phillies’ No. 1 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, Andrew Painter, is planning to appear with the team during the summer. The right-hander is working back from missing two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. If he does well, Philadelphia’s rotation may be even better, depending on how effective and healthy it is when the 21-year-old makes his major league debut.
As good as the Phillies rotation may be this year, there is a statistic that makes them formidable.
Phillies have many starters who are among the league’s best at saving runs
According to MLB.com’s glossary, “defensive runs saved (DRS) quantifies a player’s entire defensive performance by attempting to measure how many runs a defender saved.” DRS “takes into account errors, range, outfield arm and double-play ability.”
Following the trade for Luzardo, the Phillies have four of the league’s six best fielding pitchers since 2022, as graded by the DRS statistic, with Suárez leading the way. Taijuan Walker, who may be used as both a reliever and a starter this year, is also on the roster.
- Ranger Suárez – 16 DRS
- Jesús Luzardo – 12 DRS
- Taijuan Walker – 11 DRS
- Luis Severino – 11 DRS
- Zack Wheeler – 9 DRS
- Zach Eflin – 9 DRS
MLB.com describes the formula for how DRS is determined:
“DRS uses Baseball Info Solutions data to chart where each ball is hit. Say, for instance, a center fielder sprints to make a nice catch on a fly ball. Then, say data from BIS tells us that similar fly balls get caught 60 percent of the time. That center fielder gains, essentially, 0.4 bonus points for difficulty. If he can’t make the play, he loses 0.6 points. At the end of the day, that player’s overall score gets adjusted to the league average — and then that score gets adjusted for how many runs the once-adjusted score is worth.”
Depending upon how and where a ball is hit back to a pitcher, it can be challenging for him to make the throw to the first baseman to get the runner out. The pitcher should be cautious and not attempt to catch a line drive hit back to the mound with his throwing hand.
The Phillies have the chance to have an excellent starting rotation in 2025. The additions of Luzardo and Painter may make it even better. Having several starters who are among the best at saving runs defensively is another statistic to show how good it can be.
