How Much Did the Phillies’ Offense Miss Chase Utley?

It took only four games for Chase Utley to do what the combination of Wilson Valdez, Pete Orr and Michael Martinez could not do in over 40 games—hit a home run.

It’s been no secret the Phillies offense has struggled this season. Replacing one of baseball’s best second basemen with a trio of replacement-level players is a tall order.

But exactly how much did they miss Utley?

As a group, Valdez, Orr and Martinez combined for a .226/.272/.277 line in 168 plate appearances. Compared to every other team’s second-base production, the Phillies were 28th in OPS, 24th in OBP and one of only two teams without a home run.

Anyone with a little baseball knowledge can tell those are atrocious numbers.

Altogether, they produced a .248 weighted on-base average (wOBA). In their 168 plate appearances, this equates to almost 10 runs, about one full win, below an average player.

However, Chase Utley is certainly not an average player. Even though he was not fully himself last year, his .373 wOBA was fourth-best among second basemen.

If Utley had produced the same as last year in those 168 plate appearances he missed, he would have been worth just over seven runs above average. Taking it a step further, if he produced at his career mark of .387, he would have been worth nine runs above average.

Doing simple math, going from at least seven to nine runs above average to about 10 runs below average is a difference of 17 to 19 additional runs, or almost two full wins, the Phillies missed while Utley was injured.

Instead of seventh in the league in runs scored, they would be sitting at either third or fourth.

With the return of a healthy Utley, the Phillies are certainly capable of returning to one of the league’s best offenses.

They still probably are not as good as the Cardinals‘ or Reds‘ offenses, but certainly better than the one we seen so far in 2011.

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