Clear results: Bryson Stott's swing 'feels good.' So do his teeth (2024)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Not long after the World Series ended, Bryson Stott quit dipping. It was something he did only at the ballpark, usually when he batted. He knew chewing tobacco was a bad habit — he never did it around his mom. But he hit better last season after he started dipping and he’s a ballplayer, which means he is superstitious, so he kept doing it.

Until he didn’t.

“I just kind of stopped because I always said I could stop if I felt like it,” Stott said. “Then I actually did. I went to the dentist. I hate the dentist. I had a cavity. I was like, ‘All right, I’m really done now.’ Because I hate the dentist.”

That was it. Stott got Invisalign, a teeth-straightening treatment. He hasn’t had the temptation to dip since. “No,” Stott said. “I mean, I don’t know if it’s because I bite my fingernails. Or because I’m always drinking water. But I never even think about it.” He set his mind to something, and he made it work.

In Wednesday’s 8-4 Phillies win that sealed a series triumph over one of the best teams in baseball, Stott went 4-for-5. He raised his batting average to .304. He is 25 years old and he’s had one of the biggest gains in batting average across the sport this season.

Maybe Stott will hit .300 this season. Maybe not. There are 77 games to play. “A lot of at-bats,” Stott said. But this is the list of Phillies in the past 35 years who hit .300 in the season’s first 85 games while 25 or younger: Scott Rolen, Bobby Abreu and Odúbel Herrera.

Stott has nine hits in his past four games — ever since he decided he needed to go back to using the whole field more.

“I got into a little thing where I was hitting the ball to the second baseman a lot,” Stott said. “I didn’t really like that. So I’m just kind of going with what they give and not trying to do too much.”

He set his mind to it. He made it work.

In the winter, while Stott was ditching his dipping habit, Kevin Long came to Las Vegas. The problem was pretty obvious to anyone who watched Stott bat, especially in the postseason. He had a hole in his swing against fastballs — specifically elevated fastballs. Last summer, he simplified his swing and went to a two-strike approach from the first pitch of the at-bat. That helped him make more contact. But it wasn’t always quality contact. He missed pitches he should have hit.

Long, the veteran hitting coach, suggested a risky change.

“You never want to take someone’s strength away to close a hole in their swing,” Stott said. “But we focused on my (top) hand a little more. Last year, I would swing from the bottom of the strike zone up. So, anything down, I was fine. Anything up, I was not fine unless it was perfect timing and a perfect spot on the bat. We just tried to clean up my swing a little bit and go from there.”

It’s not typical for a team to advocate for an adjustment that favors contact over power. That is what Long suggested. But, in Stott’s case, the Phillies saw someone who could benefit from the approach. They do not need every hitter in their lineup to be a power threat. (They, of course, expected more home runs from others this season and that has yet to consistently happen.) Stott could be a contact piece in the lineup.

He has raised his batting average against fastballs by almost 120 points from last season to this season.

“I think comfort level has a lot to do with it,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “He’s fouling off a lot more balls this year. He’s making people work and making them come to him. And he’s barreling up more balls this year. He can hit. He really can. I just hope he keeps it going.”

the wholeeeee bucket pic.twitter.com/wiBmLNktw6

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) July 6, 2023

On Wednesday against the Rays, Stott singled to left in the second inning on a 94 mph heater down the middle. He doubled in the third inning on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, another 94 mph fastball, higher in the zone. In the fifth inning, he took two balls and then barreled a fastball to center for a run-scoring double. In the seventh inning, he smacked a hanging slider to center for a single.

“He got some pitches to hit and he didn’t miss them,” shortstop Trea Turner said. “That’s the difference. He fouls those balls off and maybe he has to grind something out. But when you get a pitch in the middle of the zone and you put the barrel on the ball and take your hit, that’s what good hitters do. Today is the perfect example of that. He hit the ball really hard five times. Different pitches. All over the field.”

Turner led the majors in 2021 with a .328 batting average. He knows what is required to hit .300 over a full season. He can envision Stott reaching that point.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all,” Turner said. “Going from a toe-tap leg kick to kind of no-striding it, that’s in theory what you want to do: Hit for a little bit higher average. Maybe you sacrifice a little bit of power or something. But you hit for the higher average. It doesn’t surprise me. He’s a good player. You can see he hits the ball the other way really well. He wants to pull the ball. He likes to pull the ball. But being able to do both is big, especially if you’re hitting .300.”

No Phillies hitter as young as Stott has batted .300 in a season since Marlon Byrd in 2003. Maybe it’s easier without the shift, but putting the ball in play remains a difficult task. The league’s batting average is five points higher than a season ago, but it’s still only .248. Batting average isn’t everything, but the Phillies have decided to make it the most important component of Stott’s game.

He’s seeing more pitches per plate appearance. He’s cut down his strikeouts. But he isn’t hitting the ball harder than he did in his rookie season. He’s found a way to place balls in better spots. Hitting fewer fly balls has helped. Stott hits those sinking liners that fall into the green space between the infielders and outfielders.

When it’s right, it is a beautiful approach. It’s the thing that generates a .300 average.

“When you start playing baseball, that’s all you’ve kind of ever heard,” Stott said. “Obviously, you never really shoot for personal goals. You want to win games. But it feels good. My swing feels good right now.”

So do his teeth. His intentions never wavered since the winter — in many ways. The Invisalign is clear. Had he been tempted to dip again, maybe it would have turned yellow.

“I always said I could stop,” Stott said, “if I felt like it.”

(Top photo: Kim Klement / USA Today)

Matt Gelb is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Philadelphia Phillies. He has covered the team since 2010 while at The Philadelphia Inquirer, including a yearlong pause from baseball as a reporter on the city desk. He is a graduate of Syracuse University and Central Bucks High School West.