This number has been sliding backwards since the Phillies led Major League Baseball with the lowest chase rate through the early part of April. Again, the partner statistic that really completes the picture is “out of zone contact percentage,” which is currently 53.3% for the Phillies. The Padres, for instance, chase at the 28th-worst rate in MLB but hit the second-most pitches thrown outside of the zone, at 59.7%. The reason we keep coming back to this is because it’s the main reason why the Phillies lost to the D Backs in the 2023 NLCS and Mets in the 2024 NLDS.