Phillies hitters among league leaders as the season draws to a close

Phillies position players are among the best in the NL in several categories (and among the worst in several others):

Ben Revere

After flirting with the lead in the "batting" race, that's now a long shot as he's in 5th at .308, far behind Justin Morneau (.319) and Josh Harrison (.317). Revere though is still just one off the NL lead in hits, with 179 to Denard Span's 180, and he is way out in front in singles -- his 157 are 20 ahead of #2 (Casey McGehee and Dee Gordon). He has also been the toughest player in the NL to strike out this year (7.9% of the time). Revere is 3rd in stolen bases (47), and also 3rd in SB% (85.5%). In a neck-and-neck battle, he has again taken over the NL lead in Baserunning Runs (i.e. runs created on the bases, from both stealing and taking extra bases, etc.), from Dee Gordon, 9.5 to 9.2.

At the other end of the spectrum, he will almost certainly finish with the lowest BB% in the NL. At 2.0%, it is essentially half the second lowest rate (Chris Johnson, 3.9%). Same with his Isolated Power -- at .057, it's far and away the lowest in the NL, with McGehee in second at .071.

Jimmy Rollins

We don't know if Rollins' hamstring will feel secure enough to let him back on the field this year, but he's currently 7th in the NL in Stolen bases (28), and 10th in SB% (82.3%). He also leads the NL in fielding percentage, for what it's worth, but more importantly he's 4th in Total Zone (and not among the leaders, but above average in DRS and UZR).

Rollins' patience, which had been at least average or better for years, improved further this season: he's 5th in the NL in Pitches per plate appearance, and 8th in taking the first pitch. Despite the time missed, he's 18th in the NL in walks.

Chase Utley

Long ago written off by many as "Done", Utley amazingly leads all NL second basemen in Games played, Putouts, and Range Factor/Game.

He's 2nd in the NL in Sac Flies with 9, 2 behind Adrian Gonzalez, and he's 2nd in Intentional walks (12, far behind Giancarlo Stanton's 24), which of course highlights the kind of season Ryan Howard has had hitting behind him.

Utley has been the 7th toughest player in the NL to strike out, among the 65 qualifiers. Utley and Rollins have the 13th and 14th best BB/K ratios in the NL.

He's also 9th in the NL in plate appearances. It's great that he's been able to stay healthy and in the lineup, but the obvious question is whether more rest throughout the year would have kept his hitting from eroding as the year progressed.

Most importantly, despite the decline at the plate after a hot start, he's been the best second baseman in the NL this season, whether measured by fWAR or rWAR, albeit in a relatively weak year for NL second basemen.

Ryan Howard

Howard currently leads the majors in Strikeouts, with 184, ahead of teammate Marlon Byrd (181), and Mike Trout and Ian Desmond (180 each).

He's also 4th in the NL in RBI with 93.

Marlon Byrd

Besides being in the strikeout race, Byrd is also 7th in the NL in home runs, with 25, although he has yet to hit one in the month of September. With his lack of walks (5.5%), Byrd owns the second lowest BB/K ratio in the NL, ahead of only Chris Johnson.

Domonic Brown

Brown has compiled -1.3 fWAR so far this year, which is in a 4-way tie for worst in the NL, along with Mark Trumbo, and two Reds, Skip Schumaker and Jay Bruce.

Cody Asche

The only item I could find on Asche is he has the 2nd worst UZR among NL third basemen, better only than Pedro Alvarez.