Along with the emergence and rise of center fielder Odubel Herrera has been the fall of former center fielder Ben Revere. Already having lost his spot as the team's center fielder, Revere also lost his spot in the batting order. After 42 at bats, Revere has just seven hits, for a .167 batting average. Revere only has one walk and one extra base hit, making his OPS .395, even light for Revere's standards. It might not be hard for one to conclude that Revere needs a better approach at the plate.
But, Jake Kaplan of the Philadelphia Inquirer has Revere on the record saying that he has no reason to change anything:
"Of course the average says you need to change something, but the way I've been hitting the ball says I don't," he said over the weekend. "It's just one of those deals. It just [stinks]. . . . You hit the ball hard and you can't show nothing for it."
Kaplan suggests that Revere is not being aggressive enough, compared to last season.
As Kaplan notes, Revere is seeing 4.11 pitches per plate appearance, as opposed to 3.61 last season. In other words, Revere would swing sooner last season, on average. Seeing more pitches might satisfy those who found Revere's low on base percentage problematic; while Revere batted .306 and tied for the lead league in hits, Revere posted just a .325 on base percentage.
The league average on base percentage for leadoff hitters in 2014 was .326. If Revere does not hit .306, then he cannot sustain his near-average leadoff approach. Revere's speed and base-stealing ability is a real asset, but he can only use it if he is on base to begin with.
Complicating matters for Revere is Herrera. In his short time as a leadoff hitter, Herrera is batting .360 with a .407 on base percentage. The Phillies simply cannot afford to remove Herrera from the leadoff position while he is this hot. And Revere, if he hopes to get it back, cannot afford to keep doing things the way he is right now.
