By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
It's only been 39 games, but Gabe Kapler's 2018 Phillies are walking at a much higher clip than Pete Mackanin's Phillies were just a year ago.
Entering Tuesday's interleague series with the Baltimore Orioles, the Phillies have walked 167 times through their first 39 games of 2018. Through the Phillies first 39 games of 2017, they walked 128 times. Ironically, the Phillies have walked 39 times more in their first 39 games of 2018 than they did in their first 39 games of 2017.
Consider this: while it's taken the 2018 Phillies 39 games to walk 167 times, it took the 2017 Phillies 57 games until they recorded their 167th walk of the season.
So what's caused this increase in walks? Well to start, Kapler and hitting coach John Mallee have pushed seeing more pitches-per-plate-appearance than their predecessors did. This seems to fall in line with the idea of "controlling the strike zone," which general manager Matt Klentak so frequently discusses. The Phillies were actually tied for the ninth most pitches seen per plate appearance in 2017 at 3.94. Still, through the first 39 games of Kapler's tenure, they are seeing 4.13 pitches-per-plate-appearance, which leads the league.
Some of the increase in walks that the Phillies have displayed can be attributed to the new coaching staff – the more pitches you see when you are at-bat, the better chance you have to walk. But it isn't that simple.
Cesar Hernandez, who has led the Phillies in walks for three consecutive seasons, currently has 29 walks, second most on the team. While Klentak was willing to listen to offers for Hernandez the past two offseasons, it doesn't seem like the Phillies were ever especially close to moving the soon-to-be 28-year-old. The reason the Phillies have placed such a high price-tag on Hernandez over the past two seasons is that despite Kingery's presence, Hernandez fields second base well, is a good leadoff hitter and even in games where he doesn't hit, he usually finds his way onto base once or twice by walking. Hernandez is the type of player that's going to be productive – and that includes walking at a high clip – regardless of where he's playing or who is coaching him.
Rhys Hoskins – despite a feeling from many that he hasn't consistently clicked at the plate in 2018 yet – currently leads the Phillies in walks at 30. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise when you consider that he walked 37 times in his first 212 plate appearances of his major league career in 2017. Hoskins didn't make his major league debut until last August, so while some credit should be given to Kapler's coaching staff for getting the Phillies to increase the rate at which they are walking, Mackanin also didn't have the luxury of having Hoskins in the lineup for the first 39 games of the 2017 season.
Klentak also helped the Phillies to walk more in 2018 by making the offseason addition of Carlos Santana. Despite a cold – and often unlucky – first month in red pinstripes, Santana's bat has begun to heat up in May – he's already hit five home runs this month. However, even when he was struggling to turn his hard contact into hits, Santana was still walking. The 32-year-old, who is 14th among active players in career walks, has already walked 23 times in 2018. When you consider that Tommy Joseph was getting a bulk of the starts at first base to open the 2017 season, it's not surprising that a lineup with him replaced by Santana has walked at a much higher rate. While Santana has already walked 23 times in 170 plate appearances, Joseph walked just 33 times in 533 plate appearances in 2017.
The aforementioned trio will likely compete for the team lead in walks, but they've only led the charge among the Phillies to get on base via the walk more frequently.
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After walking 23 times in April of 2016, Odubel Herrera walked just 31 times the entire 2017 season. It appears in 2018 that he's found a happy medium, as he's seeing 3.98 pitches-per-plate-appearance and has walked 16 times. This, of course, is in addition to the fact that he's batting .360.
Aaron Altherr, who has proven to be willing to be coached by all of his hitting coaches, is walking at a much higher clip in 2018 than he did in 2017. After walking 32 times in 412 plate appearances in 2017, Altherr has already walked 20 times in his first 125 plate appearances. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise with his increased walk percentage, but Altherr is seeing 4.36 pitches-per-plate-appearance in 2018, after seeing 3.87 in 2017.
In the end, Klentak deserves much of the credit for the Phillies increase in walks thus far. While he inherited Hoskins, Hernandez, Herrera and Altherr, he was aggressive on the free-agent market in his pursuit of Santana, despite the fact that many felt Hoskins would play first base for the foreseeable future. He also moved on from a coaching staff that didn't seem to value seeing pitches and walking as much as he hoped, and put one in place that shared his goals. Through the first 39 games of the 2018 season, his desire for the Phillies to control the strike zone more has become a reality.
