This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
So many home runs this month.
The Phillies have hit 57 in August, and they still have a game to play before the calendar turns to September. The 57 homers are the most by any team in baseball this month. They are the most by the Phillies in a calendar month in franchise history. They are tied for ninth-most by any team in a calendar month since 1904.
Homers are fun, so we watched every August homer to find the most memorable and notable ones. You can watch them all here.
Here’s what we’ve got:
Most Memorable: Trea Turner
He began the month struggling in Miami. He returned to Citizens Bank Park to standing ovations on Aug. 4. The next night he hit a go-ahead, three-run home run in the sixth inning against Kansas City. Turner got a curtain call. He has not stopped hitting since.
Turner has eight homers this month.
Baseball Is the Best!: Weston Wilson
After 2,836 plate appearances in the Minor Leagues over seven seasons, Wilson homered on Aug. 9 in his first MLB plate appearance. He was the first Phillies player to homer in his first MLB plate appearance since Marlon Anderson in 1998. Wilson (28 years, 332 days old) was the sixth-oldest player in baseball history to hit his first career home run in his first career plate appearance, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
Most Fun: Bryce Harper
Are you not entertained? Harper hit an inside-the-park home run on Aug. 21 against the Giants. It was the Phillies’ first inside-the-park homer since J.T. Realmuto’s in Game 4 of the 2022 NL Division Series. It was their first in the regular season since Harper’s on July 27, 2021.
The ball hit off David Montgomery’s wall. Most inside-the-parkers at the Bank do.
Harper has nine homers this month. He needs one more for the 300th homer of his career.
The Tone Setter: Nick Castellanos
Castellanos opened August with a go-ahead, two-run home run in the ninth inning against Marlins closer David Robertson in a 3-1 victory at loanDepot park. Castellanos hit a game-tying home run in the seventh inning in Washington in a 12-3 victory on Aug. 19, too.
Castellanos has eight homers this month.
Back-to-Back Jacks: Trea Turner
He homered twice in the eighth inning against the Nationals on Aug. 19. His first homer gave the Phillies a one-run lead. His second made it 11-3. Turner is the third player in franchise history to homer twice in the same inning. He joined Von Hayes on June 11, 1985, against the Mets (first inning); and Andy Seminick on June 2, 1949, against the Reds (eighth inning).
Should Have Meant More: Brandon Marsh and Bryce Harper
Marsh hit a go-ahead, two-run home run in the 10th inning in Miami on Aug. 2. Harper hit a game-tying, three-run home run off the right-field foul pole in the ninth inning last Wednesday against the Giants. The Phillies lost both games.
No Disrespect: Alec Bohm
The Angels intentionally walked Harper to put the tying run on base in the sixth inning Tuesday night. Bohm followed with a three-run homer to give the Phillies the lead. Bohm has five homers this month.
Longest: Kyle Schwarber (447 feet)
Schwarber crushed a go-ahead, three-run homer into the second deck in right field in the fourth inning against the Nationals on Aug. 8. It was Schwarber’s second homer of the game and his 30th homer of the season. Schwarber leads the Phillies with 10 homers this month.
Shortest: Bryson Stott (356 feet)
Stott hit a game-tying, opposite-field, three-run home run into the flower beds in left field against Royals right-hander Zack Greinke on Aug. 6. It was Stott’s 10th homer of the season. Stott has five homers this month.
Hardest-Hit: Bryce Harper (115.7 mph)
He crushed a solo homer to right field in the second inning Tuesday against the Angels. It was Harper’s fifth-hardest hit and the Phillies’ third-hardest-hit homer since Statcast began tracking exit velocities in 2015. The Phillies’ hardest-hit homer? Schwarber’s 119.7 mph blast against Yu Darvish in Game 1 of the 2022 NLCS.
Softest-Hit: Nick Castellanos (94.9 mph)
Castellanos hit a two-run homer against the Nationals on Aug. 10. It was his 20th homer of the season
Fastest Pitch Hit: Kyle Schwarber (97.2 mph) and Jake Cave (97.2 mph)
Schwarber hit a fastball for a solo homer against the Nats’ Kyle Finnegan on Aug. 18. Cave hit a fastball for a two-run homer against Finnegan in Williamsport, Pa., on Aug. 20.
Schwarber also hit the highest homer of the month on Aug. 18 (38-degree launch angle).
Slowest Pitch Hit: Johan Rojas (47.5 mph)
Rojas’ first MLB homer came against Twins outfielder Jordan Luplow’s eephus in a blowout victory on Aug. 11. “That was his first one?” Luplow said of Rojas’ homer. “No way. He’s going to tell his kids about me.”