CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Bryson Stott is thinking about something else these days.
For most of last year, he found himself thinking about his swing and about where he wanted to hit the baseball. These are not things to be mulling when Paul Skenes or Chris Sale is about to throw a pitch. So, Stott worked on his swing and his mindset over the final two-plus months of last season.
He saw results. He batted .228 with a .626 OPS through July 22. He hit .307 with an .885 OPS the rest of the way.
It’s got him excited about 2026.
“I kind of turned left field off last year,” Stott said before Friday’s 10-2 Grapefruit League victory over the Marlins at BayCare Ballpark. “In a sense, I just tried to pull everything. I got on the plate a little more. I tried to turn those outside pitches to middle pitches. If it happened to go to left, it happened to go to left. I think I get in trouble sometimes. I focus so much on left field that I miss pitches that I should pull and try to steer stuff.”
Ironically, Stott poked a home run to left field against Nationals left-hander Jake Eder in the first inning on Thursday. But then he ripped a 102.4 mph double to right-center field against Marlins left-hander Robby Snelling in the first inning on Friday. He walked in both the third and fifth.
Stott believes this is the guy he can be moving forward. He will need to prove it, of course. Phillies manager Rob Thomson has indicated plans to open the season with Stott and Edmundo Sosa platooning at second base.
“They know I want to play every day,” Stott said. “I go in telling them I want to play 162 [games] every year. Obviously, when you get the chances to face lefties, you have to make the most of it.”
The Phillies do believe that Stott’s changes can stick. He famously lowered his hands after the All-Star break, which he said let his swing “flow naturally.” He moved closer to the plate. Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long said Stott was losing too much energy in his hips, which were sliding more toward first base than the mound.
They ditched his no-stride stance, except with two strikes.
“If I lose energy this way,” Long said motioning to the right, “I’m not hitting into my front side. I kill my bat speed doing that. We had to get him going toward the baseball. It changed his contact point.”
Stott’s point of contact in April averaged 25.7 inches, according to Statcast. It moved to 31.2 inches in August.
Stott was hitting the ball out front more frequently.
It meant his bat speed crept from 68.6 mph in April to 70.1 mph in August.
“If you’re out front, you’re getting there faster,” Stott said.
Every single mph and little inch helps.
But so does approach.
“It’s a fine line,” Stott said. “When I ground out to second, ground out to first, I start pulling off the ball and then try to correct it going to left. And then I overcorrect it. I start trying to guide it, and then I’ll fly out to left. It’s trying to find that balance of just taking your swing. If it happens to go to left, it goes to left.”
Don’t worry, Stott isn’t going to stop trying to use the entire field. He’s just going to let it happen naturally.
“If you just take your swing and it’s an outside pitch, it’s going to go to left, instead of trying to guide it to left,” Stott said. “For example, I’ll get an inside heater and I’m like, ‘Well, I want to hit the ball to left this at-bat, and then I try to finagle the barrel around and that’s when I get myself in trouble. The second half was more of just letting the ball dictate where it’s going to go rather than me trying to dictate where it’s going to go.”
Stott took Snelling’s over-the-middle breaking ball in the first inning on Friday and drove it.
Presumably, he did it with a clear mind.
“The first time I [lowered my hands], I stopped thinking about where my hands are, where I’m finishing and loading and things like that,” Stott said. “I think that was the biggest thing from last year was not having to think about how I’m standing, if I’m too close, if my hands are too high. Just focusing more on approach and things like that rather than, ‘Why are my hands hitting my helmet?’"