Skip to content
Phillies
Link copied to clipboard

Phillies opening day: 25 things to know about Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen and other new players

Odds and ends include shortstop Andrew McCutchen's mom singing and reliever David Robertson's place as a strikeout pitcher.

Bryce Harper with new Phillies teammates Andrew McCutchen and Jean Segura after they finished batting practice during spring training.
Bryce Harper with new Phillies teammates Andrew McCutchen and Jean Segura after they finished batting practice during spring training.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

Some things to know about the 2019 Phillies with a heavy focus on the new guys.

1. Andrew McCutchen’s father, Lorenzo, was a running back at Division II Carson-Newman in Tennessee. He gave up football in 1989, went back to Florida and worked multiple jobs to help future wife Petrina raise their 2-year-old son. One of his jobs was working at a phosphate mine in their hometown of Fort Meade, Fla.

2. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported in 2013 that Lorenzo McCutchen’s own father abandoned him and that he would not do the same to Andrew and Andrew’s mom, Petrina. They scraped by, married in 1992 and did the best they could.

3. According to Spotrac.com, Andrew McCutchen will have earned more than $118 million just in salary by the time his contract is up after the 2022 season.

4. The 2018 league average for baserunners thrown out while stealing was 28 percent. J.T. Realmuto gunned down 38 percent (21 caught, 34 safe). Jorge Alfaro, the Phillies’ primary catcher last season, threw out 26 percent. Alfaro also threw out 21 runners, but allowed 59 steals – 25 more than Realmuto. Alfaro played in 17 fewer games.

5. Realmuto won his first Silver Slugger award last year for being the best hitter at his position. The last Phillies catcher to win that award was Darren Daulton in 1992.

6. Realmuto’s uncle, John Smith, has coached Oklahoma State to seven consecutive Big 12 wrestling championships. Smith was 100-5 in his career as a wrestler, including Olympic gold medals in 1988 and 1992.

Catch this

Phillies games played by catcher, since they last played in the postseason in 2011:

Season (Phils W-L)
2011 -- 102-60, Won NL East
Catchers (Games played)
Carlos Ruiz (128), Brian Schneider (40), Dane Sardinha (15), Erik Kratz (1)
Season (Phils W-L)
2012 -- 81-81, 3rd place
Catchers (Games played)
Carlos Ruiz (106), Eriki Kratz (41), Brian Schneider (29), Steven Lerud (3)
Season (Phils W-L)
2013 -- 73-89, 4th place
Catchers (Games played)
Carlos Ruiz (86), Erik Kratz (60), Humberto Quintero (21), Steven Lerud (5), Cameron Rupp (3)
Season (Phils W-L)
2014 -- 73-89, 5th place
Catchers (Games played)
Carlos Ruiz (109), Wil Nieves (34), Cameron Rupp (18), Kovie Hill (10)
Season (Phils W-L)
2015 -- 63-89, 5th place
Catchers (Games played)
Carlos Ruiz (83), Cameron Rupp (80), Erik Kratz (3)
Season (Phils W-L)
2016 -- 71-91, 4th place
Catchers (Games played)
Cameron Rupp (104), Carlos Ruiz (47), A.J. Ellis (11), Jorge Alfaro (4)
Season (Phils W-L)
2017 -- 66-96, 5th place
Catchers (Games played)
Cameron Rupp (88), Andrew Knapp (53), Jorge Alfaro (28)
Season (Phils W-L)
2018 -- 80-82, 3rd place
Catchers (Games played)
Jorge Alfaro (104), Andrew Knapp (53), Wilson Ramos (23)
Season (Phils W-L)
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Catchers (Games played)

7. The American League Central is the Phillies’ primary interleague divisional opponent this season.

8. The Phils will make their first trip to Cleveland since a horrendous two-game sweep in 2013 when Philadelphia was outscored by the last-place Indians, 20-2. Roy Halladay lost the first game, Cliff Lee lost the second. The Phillies haven’t had a winning season since.

Player stats: Bryce Harper | Andrew McCutchen | J.T. Realmuto | David Robertson | Jean Segura

9. In addition to the AL Central, the Phillies also play in Boston on Aug. 20-21 and host the Red Sox Sept. 14-15. The Phillies do not play the Yankees.

10. Jean Segura came up through the Angels organization, but played just one game for them before being dealt to Milwaukee at the 2012 trade deadline. Segura, 29, has been traded four times in his career.

11. Segura was in a fight with Seattle teammate Dee Gordon last September, but said he was just defending himself.

That time Jean Segura stole first base … this is wild

12. Segura nearly quit baseball following the 2014 death of his son Janniel, telling the Seattle Times in 2017, “I was dead out there on the field.”

13. He eventually pressed on and was an All-Star last year for the first time since 2013.

14. “Every team that I’ve been on, they’ve been rebuilding,” Segura said at the start of spring training. “The Phillies are not rebuilding.”

15. The Phillies were tied with St. Louis for the most errors last season and only Baltimore was worse in defensive efficiency, a complicated metric that you’d rather not be anywhere near where the 115-loss Orioles were.

16. The offseason additions, plus the move by Rhys Hoskins back to first base, should improve the Phillies’ defense.

17. The Phillies have a 12-game stretch in September against teams that were in the playoffs last year: home with Atlanta (Sept. 9-12) and Boston (Sept. 14-15), at Atlanta (Sept, 17-19), and at Cleveland (Sept. 20-22).

18. Reliever David Robertson and his wife Erin founded the High Socks for Hope foundation, which helps both homeless military veterans and victims of natural disasters.

19. Robertson’s 11.97 strikeouts per nine innings pitched is the highest ratio in major league history among pitchers with at least 600 innings pitched. Brad Lidge (11.92) and Billy Wagner (11.92) are second and third.

» READ MORE: How David Robertson negotiated his own contract

20. Robertson and Jake Arrieta (Cubs, 2016) are the only two players on the roster who’ve won a World Series. Robertson pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings for the Yankees when they beat the Phillies for the 2009 championship.

21. This will be the earliest home opener in club history. The only other time the Phillies played at home before April was March 31, 2008. They lost at home to Washington, but went on to win the World Series. One has nothing to do with the other, of course.

22. The Phillies are 0-4 all-time in season openers against the Atlanta Braves. Their four losing pitchers were Steve Carlton (1985), Ken Ryan (1999), Ryan Madson (2007), Brett Myers (2009).

23. Bryce Harper has been a menace on opening day in his career. He’s gone 9-for-21 (.429) with five walks, three homers and three RBIs. The Nationals went 5-1 in those six openers.

24, When Harper’s 13-year contract is up, today’s first-grade classes will be entering college.

25. “Like his dad, Bryce is hard labor and working class to the bone. He’s a hard hat with, sometimes, a hard head,” renowned Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell wrote in February. “If Philly thinks it just got a rich spoiled prince, it’s wrong. Harper will make mistakes and get booed, go into slumps and be mocked, but he will also light up Citizens Bank Park for weeks.”