2015 Ryan Howard was bad. He had power, hitting 23 home runs, but in pretty much every other respect, he had a bad season. Everyone knows this. You know this, I know this, Col. Rawls knows this.
In the interest of minimizing depression, then, this review will be very TLDR, followed by highlight clips.
Howard slashed a questionable .229/.277/.443/.720, good for a 94 OPS+. While his power rebounded somewhat (53 total extra base hits), the .277 OBP was not only the lowest of his career, but was among the absolute worst in baseball. Among qualified players, only Wilson Ramos and Chris Owings reached base less often.
Against right-handed pitchers, he was serviceable, with a split OPS of .802, including 20 of his dingers. In the 107 plate appearances he recorded against left-handed pitchers, however, he was abysmal, with an absurd line of .130/.178/.240/.418. He very obviously should no longer be a fulltime player, and instead should be used as the tall half of a platoon. Whether the new regime will enact such a change remains to be seen.
Howard at Baseball-Reference.com.
Now, on to the highlights.
In mid April, he hit his first home run of the season against Miami's Dan Haren during a 7-3 drubbing. Bonus Giancarlo Stanton home run/creepy mask footage.
On July 19, he reached a career milestone with his 350th career home run off of Miami's Dan Haren.
In mid-August, he tore up three Miami pitchers nobody has ever heard of, going 3 for 5 with three doubles.
During a September series against Atlanta, he made a nifty leap to rob Freddie Freeman of a possible double.
On September 13, he drilled a two-run shot off Chicago's Dan Haren in what would become the last win of the season. This clip is perfect. Listen to Matt Stairs note that Howard isn't going to get a pitch to hit, then blammo. If Howard could face Haren in every at-bat, he'd be in the Hall of Fame already.
The following day he hit another off Washington's Jordan Zimmermann.
Howard was also awarded the Phillies' Roberto Clemente and Community Service Awards.