Listen to this articleLast Updated on September 18, 2023 by Matt Musico
If you’ve ever wondered who the Phillies single season home run leaders are at each position, then you’re in the right place. Outside of pitcher and designated hitter, each player had to man their position for at least 100 games (or 75% of games played) for the season in question.
After you’re done checking this out, head over to the Phillies’ all-time and single-season home run leaderboards.
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Phillies Single Season Home Run Leaders
Catcher: Stan Lopata, 32 Home Runs in 1956
Across 13 years in the big leagues, Stan Lopata hit 116 home runs. He enjoyed four straight seasons of double-digit dingers from 1954-57, with 86 of his career homers coming during this period.
He didn’t necessarily start or end hot in the power department during the ’56 campaign, but everything in between was great. Lopata hit one homer in March/April and another three during September/October. But from May through August, he didn’t finish a month with fewer than six dingers. His progression during this period was seven, six, seven, and eight.
Pitcher: Rick Wise, 6 Home Runs in 1971
Rick Wise is single-season Phillies home run royalty when it comes to pitchers. He’s the only hurler in franchise history with more than four homers in a season. Wise earned his first of two career All-Star Game selections in ’71 for his work on the mound. He finished the year with a 17-14 record to go along with a 2.88 ERA and 1.22 WHIP.
What he did at the plate wasn’t too shabby, either. Wise slashed .237/.260/.464 with those six homers, 15 RBI, and 14 runs scored across 104 trips to the plate. Two of them came while he tossed a no-hitter. Seriously.
First Base: Ryan Howard, 58 Home Runs in 2006
Ryan Howard‘s 58 home runs are more than just a single-season Phillies record for first baseman. It’s the most overall in franchise history and one of the most powerful seasons in MLB history, period. He obviously led the league in homers that year, as did his 149 RBI en route to winning NL MVP honors. As if that wasn’t already enough, he paired it with a .313/.425/.659 line to give him a career-high 1.084 OPS.
Howard slugged 29 homers at home and another 29 on the road. What I marvel at is the finish he provided over the last two months of the regular season. Over his final 275 plate appearances, the slugger slashed .365/.513/.750 with 23 home runs, 11 doubles, 62 RBI, and 46 runs scored.
Second Base: Chase Utley, 33 Home Runs in 2008
When we look at the Phillies’ single-season home run leaderboard for second baseman, it’s Chase Utley‘s world and we’re living in it. He owns each of the top three spots. His 2008 performance was his second of three career seasons of 30-plus homers, all of which came with Philadelphia. In each of those instances, Utley went to the All-Star Game, won a Silver Slugger Award, and finished within the top 15 of NL MVP voting.
The majority of Utley’s damage came early in 2008. By the end of May, he had already slugged 19 home runs and went into the All-Star break with 25 dingers. He accumulated 131 fewer plate appearances in the second half, but his slugging percentage dropped from .582 to .465.
Shortstop: Jimmy Rollins, 30 Home Runs in 2007
Phillies single-season shortstop home run royalty, thy name is Jimmy Rollins. He outdoes his long-time double-play partner by owning the top four spots on Philly’s shortstop leaderboard. Rollins had four different seasons of at least 20-plus homers, but his 2007 performance — which finished with NL MVP honors — was the only time he reached 30. He also added 38 doubles and a league-high 20 triples for good measure.
Rollins did something here that we don’t see very often in these articles. He didn’t miss a single game in 2007, yet he went homer-less during the month of May. The shortstop still collected eight doubles and five triples, but his .679 OPS was the only time he produced one lower than .850 that season. In every other month, Rollins hit at least four homers, slugging six-plus on three occasions.
Third Base: Mike Schmidt, 48 Home Runs in 1980
If we want to talk about owning a positional home run leaderboard, Mike Schmidt takes the cake. Of the top-20 performances in Phillies history, he owns 12 of them. There’s a reason why he’s the franchise’s all-time home run king, ya know.
Schmidt led the league in homers eight times during his Hall of Fame career. This occurrence in 1980 was the fourth, which was his age-30 season. He went on to hit 30-plus seven more times (all consecutively) before hanging up his spikes for good. Schmidt loved starting his day with a home run during this particular campaign, as 11 of his dingers came in the first inning.
Phillies Single Season Home Run Leaders
Left Field: Kyle Schwarber, 46 Home Runs in 2022
Kyle Schwarber‘s first year with the Phillies gave him the 2022 NL Home Run crown, a spot on the single-season franchise leaderboard, and this honor right here. Not bad, right? This was his fourth 30-homer campaign since 2017, but it was the first time his total crested over 40.
It took the left-handed slugger a couple of months to warm up. But once that happened, he kept pouring it on. Schwarber had 11 home runs through the end of May. From that point on, he slugged at least 10 homers in a month three times (12 in June, 10 in both July and September/October).
Center Field: Cy Williams, 41 Home Runs in 1923
We’ve had a run of more current players on this list, but the Phillies have been around since the 1880s. They were bound to have some more old-timers here. The first is Cy Williams. He had two separate 30-homer performances in his career, but this was his first. He paired those 41 homers with 114 RBI and a .947 OPS.
When you look at his monthly splits, it’s easy to see where Williams made this season-long performance possible. In the month of May, he slashed .355/.437/.782 with 15 home runs (!) and 43 RBI (!!). If you look at his other five months of the year, he didn’t hit more than eight homers or collect more than 19 RBI at any time.
Right Field: Chuck Klein, 43 Home Runs in 1929
Chuck Klein finished his MLB career with 300 home runs on the dot. He did the majority of that work during the early portion of his time in the big leagues. From 1929-33, he led the league in homers four times and didn’t hit fewer than 28 in any season. It also included two different campaigns of 40-plus dingers.
Klein produced two months of double-digit homers in ’29, and the stat lines from both of those occurrences were pretty insane. He slashed .413/.448/.789 with 11 homers and 34 RBI in May. That was followed by a .448/.504/.888 line with 14 home runs and 40 RBI in July.
Designated Hitter: Bryce Harper, 17 Home Runs in 2022
Bryce Harper hit 18 homers overall in 99 games played during the 2022 season. As we can see, 17 of them came as the Phillies’ designated hitter since he played while needing to eventually get Tommy John surgery following the 2022 World Series.
He enjoyed being the DH, as it led to a .296/.368/.522 line in 389 plate appearances. In 36 plate appearances while playing the outfield, Harper hit .143/.306/.357.
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