5 Phillies players vital for a deep postseason run

Phillies who need to step up: 1. Ranger Suarez

Ranger Suarez has shocked many baseball fans, showing how dominant he can be as a pitcher. In his first season as a part-time starter, 2021, he played in 39 games with 12 starts and pitched 106 innings with an ERA of 1.36. While he's not performing like that again in the 2023 regular season, he has performed well in the limited postseason innings he has pitched in. In total, he pitched 14.2 innings in the 2022 postseason, holding a record of 2-0 with an ERA of 1.23.

Most of his success came off the back of his deadly sinker, but in the 2023 season, he's struggled with it, letting batters hit .295 instead of between .210 and .220 in previous seasons. He's dominated with his curveball, but so far in 2023, that's really been his only good pitch, with all of the rest of his pitches struggling and giving up many hits.

Prior to this season, he used his sinker between 40-45 percent of the time, but he has instead relied on his other pitches in 2023, only using it 27.6 percent of the time, while using his curveball and cutter almost twice as much. The main problem in 2023 has been that he's been giving up too many hard-hit balls while being a ground-ball pitcher.

One promising fact is his xERA (Expected ERA) is at 4.38, showing that he's been overperforming with his 3.93 ERA, which means acquiring Trea Turner to pair alongside Bryson Stott in the middle infield has been working out, as they've been saving runs for him.