Aug 20, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies second base Bryson Stott (5) hits an RBI double during the second inning against the Seattle Mariners at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Bryson Stott's teammates have been teasing him ever since his son Jaxson was born on July 23.
It was on that day where Stott called manager Rob Thomson and told him he wanted to play even though his wife Dru had given birth in the middle of the night.
Thomson said O.K. and Stott showed up and had a homer and a double against Boston.
And he hasn't stopped hitting since.
Dad strength?
"Yeah," Stott said. "Everyone's always telling me we need to have a baby every year, so preferably around September. It's been fun."
Stott had three more hits and two more RBIs on Wednesday as the Phillies walloped the Seattle Mariners 11-2, completing a three-game sweep.
In the 25 games he's played since his son was born, Stott is slashing .333/.415/.556 with a .971 OPS.
He has eight doubles, a triple, two homers and 13 RBIs. He's also stolen seven bases and scored 15 runs.
And while it would be a fun story to say it has something to do with Jaxson's arrival, the reality is, he's made a change to his approach at the plate.
Asked Rob Thomson what’s led to Bryson Stott’s improvement at the plate:
“There was a mechanical change and ever since he’s done that he’s been really good. If you can get that guy at the end of your lineup get hot, that’s really good. He turns over the lineup.” #Phillies pic.twitter.com/IlkVPwAdd4
If you listen to manager Rob Thomson talk about it, it sounds like the Phillies sent Stott to visit a golf pro.
"They've changed his load, I guess you'd call it, and there's not as much waggle in his bat," Thomson said. "He knows where his club head is and he leans it on his shoulder and just takes his takeaway. He has a better idea of where the club head is and he's had really good at bats."
Cutting through the jargon, Stott is holding his hands a little bit lower and closer to his body, which allows him to get the bat through the zone faster.
When he was struggling, his bat speed was off-kilter. He was late on a lot of swings and hitting a lot of pop ups to the left side of the field.
In these past 25 games, he's using more of the field, but he really seems to be making the hardest contact when he pulls the ball - which he did on his first two hits on Wednesday.
BRYSON STOTT!!!
He has been AWESOME AS OF LATE!!
HE ROPED THIS RBI DOUBLE! pic.twitter.com/VRgNnBxjZ9
"You see the talent there," said Trea Turner, who is tied with Toronto's Bo Bichette for the Major League lead in hits and had five more in the win on Wednesday. "We all know how good he is. He was a little frustrated with himself earlier in the year. He just felt like he was missing pitches that he should hit. He was using the whole field today. ... I feel like he's really driving the ball to rightfield, too."
Stott isn't saying for sure that this change has made the difference, but he did admit that he and the hitting coaches have gone back through what he was doing during his best offensive season (2023) and some of his best months in both 2024 and this season, and tried to apply what is working.
"We looked at where I was at the start of the year and for the two months I was hitting good last year and in '23 and metrically, they are very similar in attack angles and bat speed and things like that," Stott said. "Even still, sometimes it just doesn't work out. You want to think that they're all going to even out and the line out you hit at 105 (MPH) will be made up for with a 62 (MPH) hit."
Stott said it's easy to overthink things when you make a string of outs and feel like you need to change something, when in fact, that's just the way baseball is sometimes.
Yes, the floodgates opened up this inning offensively, but it was Bryson Stott who got it all started with a terrific at-bat…
Stott has been absolutely phenomenal since the All-Star break all the way around. Love it!pic.twitter.com/YWKCvbdY1m
"It's a fine line," he said. "You're always asking yourself, 'Was that a good swing and I made an out? Or, was that a bad swing even though I got a hit? But once I kind of realized baseball is all luck ... you get yourself out more when you're swinging at bad pitches, and that's what I focus on the most - it's what pitches I am swinging at."
Whatever those pitches have been in the past 25 games, the Phillies hope he keeps swinging at them for the next two months.
And having a little dad strength behind them isn't such a bad thing.
