Phanatic, lefties no match for ever-evolving Jazz

PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillie Phanatic found a formidable foe in Jazz Chisholm Jr. on Saturday.

After hopping on the Phanatic’s ATV and taking it for a quick joyride, Chisholm dished out some prophetic trash talk: “I told him, ‘[If] I hop on your bike, I'm going to win.’ So it's sick.”

True to his word, Chisholm delivered the game-winning hit during the seventh inning of the Marlins’ 3-2 comeback victory over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

For the second time in three games this series, Miami mounted a seventh-inning rally to chase a Phillies co-ace. It was right-hander Zack Wheeler on Thursday. This time around, righty Aaron Nola gave up back-to-back two-out doubles to Otto Lopez and Nick Fortes to tie the game at 2 before Chisholm’s heroics.

“I know we haven't scored a ton of runs, but we put up some good at-bats against these guys,” Fortes said. “They're All-Star arms for a reason. But I feel like we've done a really good job hanging in there with them.”

Following Fortes’ knock, the Phillies turned to southpaw Matt Strahm to face the left-handed-hitting Chisholm, who had forgotten that Strahm hit him with a pitch on Thursday that made him miss Friday’s game. Chisholm sent Strahm’s elevated four-seamer to center for the go-ahead RBI single. 12 of the Marlins’ 14 runs this trip have been with two outs.

But the macro story is Chisholm becoming more of a complete hitter this season.

Outside of injuries, the biggest thing holding Chisholm back during the early part of his career has been his performance against lefties.

From 2020-23, his slash line was: .207/.254/.349 in 275 AB/297 PA
In ‘24, it is: .275/.339/.402 in 102 AB/112 PA

During Spring Training, Chisholm often spoke about working over the offseason with Dominique Collie Jr., whom he calls his “left-handed little brother.” A member of the D-backs’ system from 2017-18 like Chisholm, Collie threw him cutters and sinkers to better his approach in lefty-lefty matchups.

It also helped that manager Skip Schumaker put Chisholm in the lineup on a consistent basis.

“I think he had something to prove, too,” Schumaker said. “He kept saying that he is capable of playing every day, didn't want to be a platoon guy, didn't want to hit ninth with lefties. I sort of protected him early on in the year getting sixth and seventh in the order because I really liked his defense and baserunning, all that. It wasn't just the offense. But he worked his butt off to try to hit better against lefties and to not get pinch-hit for or to not start against them. But again, it shows you the growth when he's not leaking against a guy who he just got hit by two days ago. That shows a lot -- staying up the middle still. That was a big at-bat.”

What’s even more impressive is Chisholm producing without getting much to hit in 2024. Entering Saturday, he saw pitches that were in the Gameday zone just 47.1 percent of the time -- tied for 19th fewest of the 141 hitters seeing at least 1,000 on the year. Of that same collection of batters, Chisholm ranked fifth lowest with just 23.3 percent of the pitches in the "heart" of the zone.

This means it can be tough for Chisholm to find a hit to do damage against, in large part because he lacks lineup protection without All-Stars Jorge Soler and Luis Arraez. Prolonged slumps from Josh Bell and Jake Burger also didn’t work in his favor.

In the fifth, for example, Chisholm saw just three pitches in the zone -- but all on the outside part of the plate. He grounded out with the tying run at second.

That was one of the few instances of Chisholm not coming through in the clutch this season. He is batting .375 (24-for-64) with runners in scoring position, tied for the third-highest average among 144 qualified hitters in MLB. His 1.086 OPS ranks ninth in that group.

“I'd say I just feel like I took my game to another level instead of just thinking about homers only, and doubles and triples,” Chisholm said. “I try to get my hits now. I try to get my walks, so I don't try to do too much. I'm not the guy that I used to be, where I used to make sure the game is only on me and solely me. I feel like I'm starting to realize that it's a team game and hand it off to my teammates if I had to.”