August 20, 2025

Bryson Stott made a fix to his swing. He's been surging for the Phillies since.

Stott struggled through the first half of the year, but he found stability at the ninth spot in the order, and realized what had fallen off about his swing.

By Nick Tricome
PhillyVoice Staff

Bill Streicher/Imagn Images

Bryson Stott drives a second-inning double into right field during Wednesday's 11-2 Phillies win over the Seattle Mariners at Citizens Bank Park.

Bryson Stott took a look at his swing and finally realized what needed to be fixed.

"Just lowering my hands again," the Phillies' second baseman said, "[2023] and the start of [2024] they were pretty low. You take so many swings a day that they started creeping up and creeping up, and didn't feel it until I started going back and I'm like 'This looks...something looks weird.'"

So Stott's solution was to "just try to simplify it," and so far, the results have been showing.

Stott worked a full count and drove an RBI double to the right-field wall in the second inning of the Phillies' 11-2 rout of the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday, helping to complete the series sweep in what was a total offensive onslaught down at Citizens Bank Park.

He drove in another run with an opposite-field grounder into left, and the night before, he launched a solo homer into the right-field seats.

Since the All-Star break, Stott's been slashing .300/.387/.500, and 18 games into August entering Wednesday's series finale, he's posted an even hotter line of .354/.429/.563.

The 27-year-old infielder has notably struggled at the plate through the first half of the season, and throughout various spots up and down the lineup.

But Stott found stability at the No. 9 spot in the order, and with the adjustment of lowering his hands while he's in the batter's box, the payoff has been huge – both for his own production and the Phillies' overall offensive cohesion, as his hot bat leads right into another with a surging Trea Turner at the top, and then into Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, and J.T. Realmuto at the heart of the order.

"He knows where the barrel's at," manager Rob Thomson said postgame Wednesday of the change to Stott's swing.

"You got that guy at the end of your lineup and he gets hot, that really helps your offense," Thomson continued. "Because it turns it over to Turner and Schwarber and Harp and J.T., who's swinging the bat well, so that's a big thing for us."

And what can help to yield 48 hits and 29 runs scored across a series like it did this week against the Mariners.

Stotty keepin' it rolling pic.twitter.com/SUjPfPvUjF
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) August 20, 2025

Stott can field, run the bases, and has an eye at the plate that can make him an incredibly tough out for opposing pitchers. That much has been known about him ever since he made his way up the Phillies in 2022.

The struggle, and concern, for the past year and a half, though, has been on him actually making solid contact and getting on base first.

Stott hasn't done that consistently since the 2023 season, when he slashed .280/.329/.419 through 151 games.

But he might be putting the puzzle back together at the plate now. He just needed to get his hands lower.

"You see the talent there," Turner said of Stott from the clubhouse postgame. "We all know how good he is. He was a little frustrated with himself early in the year, and just feeling like he was missing pitches that he should hit. That's kind of the difference."

"The at-bats have been really consistent," Turner added. "Feel like he's walking quite a bit, too, in front of me. Feel like he's getting in good counts, swinging at good pitches. He expects that out of himself. It was only a matter of time because we've seen him in the past be really good."

And he's doing good right now, which only has the Phillies looking that much better – like capable of piling on 29 runs in three days against a postseason contender better.

"You always want to play well, but doing that in three games against those arms, and they're really good arms, should just show you that we can do it," Stott said. "We need to have the confidence that we can do it."