I am doing a series where I offer up three fantasy baseball thoughts for every MLB team. I’ll look at under-the-radar stats, playing time projections, projected roles, and off-season news to try and highlight the nuggets that might help you in your 2025 fantasy baseball drafts. We’ll do this thing in alphabetical order, and next up are three thoughts for the 2025 Philadelphia Phillies.
3 Fantasy Baseball Thoughts for the 2025 Philadelphia Phillies
JT Realmuto Isn’t What he Once Was
This is not truly a knock on JT Realmuto as he’s going to turn 34 before Opening Day. He’s had a strong career as one of the best catchers in baseball, but we can’t live in the past with him either. Realmuto is continuing to slide down the Philadelphia batting order, and he isn’t the same player he once was. It’s not exactly surprising as the aging curve with catchers is steeper, but he should be drafted accordingly.
For a long time, one of Realmuto’s calling cards was that he was a base-stealing catcher. However, after just two stolen bases last year, I wouldn’t plan on that being the case any longer. At .266 last year, that part of Realmuto’s game should remain relatively consistent as he did have a .273 xBA. Anything between .250 and .270 is reasonable, but with no more stolen bases, we need the power production. And that also appears to be dwindling.
Realmuto still had a solid 10.4% barrel rate and 45.9% hard hit rate last year, but his average launch angle dropped to 9.4 degrees. The gap between his SLG (.429) and xSLG (.472) does give us some hope, but his ISO also decreased to .163. His home runs decreased from 20 to 14, but health was an issue here as Realmuto only played 99 games after 135 the year prior. The problem though, is that even if his other numbers return, without the stolen the bases is he worth an ADP of 133?
Within stand alone catcher rankings, that’s probably still the case, but it’s too risky for me there. In reality, you are likely sacrificing power for just a few points on your batting average.
Alec Bohm is a Run Producing Machine
As long as your expectations are in line with reality, you are good here. Alec Bohm is not a home run hitter. However, he is a very good hitter. Bohm deserves to bat in the middle of Philadelphia’s order, and that will be the case in 2025. In fact, he likely will be the protection for Bryce Harper which means he’ll continue to have a plethora of RBI opportunities. Last year, there weren’t many other options who were better with runners on base.
For the second straight season, Bohm drove in 97 runs while hitting for a strong average. In 2023, Bohm batted .274, and he followed that up by hitting .280 last season. However, with 20 home runs in 2023 and 15 in 2024, hitting the ball over the fence isn’t a strength for Bohm. But how much does it really matter? That’s especially the case when you can draft him around pick 170.
The barrel rate and launch angle aren’t there for Bohm, but he does have a 45.6% hard hit rate. He only made soft contact 13.7% of the time last year and with an elite 84.8% contact rate, Bohm consistently puts the bat on the ball.
Believe in Christopher Sanchez, to a Point
There are multiple ways for pitchers to be successful. However, from both a fantasy and real-life perspective, we often look for them to do it with fire and fury. Strikeouts catch our attention and they are one of the five pitching categories we are looking to compile. Those that don’t rack up the strikeouts, don’t receive the same level of attention and buzz, and that’s not especially fair.
In 2023, Christopher Sanchez had a 3.44 ERA in 99.1 innings but that wasn’t enough to drive an abundance of attention heading into 2024. All Sanchez did then was follow up that by making 31 starts. He recorded a 3.32 ERA and picked up 11 victories. The problem though is that his strikeout totals dropped from 8.70 per nine innings to 7.58.
The good news though, is that he only walked just over two batters per nine innings. The better news is that Sanchez keeps the ball on the ground at a rate of 57.4% which helps him to eliminate damage. And even better was the fact that he allowed just 0.54 home runs per nine innings last year.
With a 5.4% barrel rate and 34.3% hard hit rate against, hitters have difficulties squaring Sanchez up. That will allow him to continue to be successful.
For more of the great fantasy baseball rankings and analysis you’ve come to expect from FantraxHQ, check out our full 2025 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit! We’re here for you all the way up until Opening Day and then on into your championship run.
