Top 10 Phillies players of 2026

Here’s Phillies Nation’s list of Top 10 Phillies players heading into the 2026 season.

This year’s list was voted on by four staff writers: Destiny Lugardo, Ty Daubert, Nathan Ackerman and Bailey Digh. We asked each voter to create their own list of the 10 Phillies who they think will have the best 2026 season, while also considering track record.

There’s a new consensus No. 1 Phillie. Hint: He is the new ace of the rotation. Other questions we considered: How elite is Bryce Harper compared to his teammates? How real is the end of Jesús Luzardo’s 2025 season? And where does Zack Wheeler belong on this list after undergoing thoracic outlet decompression surgery?

Here was our list heading into the 2025 season:

1. Zack Wheeler
2. Bryce Harper
3. Cristopher Sánchez
4. Trea Turner
5. Kyle Schwarber
6. Aaron Nola
7. José Alvarado
8. Jesús Luzardo
9. Bryson Stott
10. J.T. Realmuto

Top 10 Phillies players of 2025

No. 10 — J.T. Realmuto

• 2025 ranking: 10th
• Highest 2026 ranking: 9th
• Lowest 2026 ranking: N/R

Realmuto is back for an eighth season with the Phillies. There is really not much else to say. He is valuable to the Phillies in ways few outside of the game can fully understand. Some of that value should be more apparent in the new ABS challenge system coming to MLB in 2026. You can bet that Realmuto’s advanced feel for the art of catching will lead to multiple key calls being overturned late in games. 

Realmuto is a hard player to evaluate. Much of his value lies in how much of an asset he is to the pitching staff. But there was once a time where Realmuto was one of the best hitters in the Phillies lineup. He did not have the year he wanted to offensively in 2025, and he will be looking to prove that he is still a valuable bat even in his age-35 season. One thing that must improve from last season is his numbers against left-handed pitching. It’s hard to imagine Realmuto’s OPS against southpaws dipping below the .601 mark he had in 2025. — Destiny Lugardo

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No. 9 — Bryson Stott

• 2025 ranking: 9th
• Highest 2026 ranking: 8th
• Lowest 2026 ranking: N/R

Stott will be an excellent defender at second base and a great baserunner this season, and that will provide a decent floor. But if he can prove the adjustments he made last year have stuck, the infield could be a really valuable player for the Phillies.

The left-handed hitter batted .234 with a .637 OPS in the first half of last season, then bounced back with a .294 average and an .855 OPS after the All-Star break. He moved his hand position and found better results. If 2026 looks anything like the second half of 2025 for Stott, he’ll bring a major boost near the middle or bottom of the order in addition to the little things he excels at on the bases and in the field. — Ty Daubert

No. 8 — Brandon Marsh

• 2025 ranking: N/R
• Highest 2026 ranking: 8th
• Lowest 2026 ranking: 10th

Marsh gets a somewhat bad rap because of what he is not — a great center fielder, an everyday bat. What he is: Someone who hit .300 with an .838 OPS last year against righties with a longer track record of mashing them, someone whose overall numbers (vs. LHP and RHP) from May on were almost exactly those same marks and quite a good left fielder. 

Have the Phillies solved this usage problem by pairing him with the right platoon partner? Maybe. They seem to think so in Otto Kemp, now healthy after playing through knee and shoulder injuries last year. If Kemp can make up a viable half of the left-field equation, it’ll be a lot easier to appreciate Marsh for what he brings to the table, because it’s quite valuable to the Phillies.

While not the most consistent player week-in and week-out, year-over-year, Marsh has held quite steady, especially against those aforementioned righties. Now in his age-28 season, with expectations more straightforward than in years past – Marsh will be a platoon player – it would be surprising to see a negative deviation this year. Hey, he’ll probably get a hit in April, too. — Nathan Ackerman

No. 7 — Jhoan Duran

• 2025 ranking: NA
• Highest 2026 ranking: 7th
• Lowest 2026 ranking: 7th

Duran’s 32 saves were tied for fifth in the majors last year. He also finished with the 12th-best ERA among relievers (2.06). He’s not elite when it comes to piling up strikeouts, but he induces an elite rate of groundballs. It’s hard to do damage against the big right-hander. Entering his age-28 season and coming off a career-best season, Duran might be able to do even better in 2026.

Playing on a contending team should set Duran up for plenty of save situations this year. He should be close to automatic in those spots, giving the Phillies an edge over many other teams; when they lead entering the ninth inning, it should be a near-certain win. That type of reliever projects to be very important and easily makes Duran one of the Phillies’ best players entering the year. — Bailey Digh

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No. 6 — Trea Turner

• 2025 ranking: 4th
• Highest 2026 ranking: 3rd
• Lowest 2026 ranking: 6th

Turner is coming off his best overall season in 2025. He won the National League and was the only qualified hitter in the NL to hit over .300. He limited the miscues defensively at shortstop and used his range and athleticism to become one of the best defenders at the position. Only two players in the NL, Shohei Ohtani and Geraldo Perdomo, finished with a higher fWAR total than Turner did last year. He is still one of the fastest players in the league. 

He is one of the elite players in the game and has lived up to the $300 million contract he signed in December 2022. But what does the best version of him look like? Like Schwarber, Turner’s talent and intelligence allows him to think deeper about his own game. Turner in 2025 sacrificed some over-the-fence power for a higher on-base percentage and more hits in the gap. It’s what the Phillies wanted him to focus on, but he wants to get the right backspin more consistently on pulled fly balls, which will get him back to 20 home run territory. But the Phillies would sign up in a heartbeat for Turner to repeat his 2025 accomplishments in 2026. — Destiny Lugardo

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No. 5 — Zack Wheeler

• 2025 ranking: 1st
• Highest 2026 ranking: 4th
• Lowest 2026 ranking: 6th

For the first time in a long time, Wheeler is something of a wild card. It hasn’t been that way for most of his Phillies career, as the right-hander could be penciled in for ace-level production on high volume just about every season — not to mention his dependability in the postseason. But after last year’s health scare and subsequent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, it’s impossible to truly know what he’ll look like and how his body will hold up until the season comes along.

But then again, Wheeler is a special pitcher, perhaps the best of the 2020s decade. If anyone can brush off what he dealt with and bounce right back, it seems like it would be him. And if that’s the case, it would be quite the trio at the top of Philadelphia’s rotation along with Sánchez and Luzardo. — Ty Daubert

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No. 4 — Jesús Luzardo

• 2025 ranking: 8th
• Highest 2026 ranking: 2nd
• Lowest 2026 ranking: 5th

Luzardo has been a popular pick all offseason to have an outstanding 2026, and part of it was the walk-year effect. Well, consider that point moot. Luzardo’s efforts in 2025 earned him a five-year, $135 million extension with the Phillies to prevent him from hitting free agency this winter at all. 

You can attribute a lot of that deal to Luzardo’s unexpected durability. With 32 starts and a career-high 183 2/3 innings to his name last season, and with the general sentiment from Clearwater that Luzardo is among the sharper arms in camp so far, it’s very possible that his health concerns are entirely a thing of the past. If that’s the case, there’s no reason Luzardo can’t ascend even higher in his age-28 season. Remember, he was No. 7 in NL Cy Young voting last year despite two consecutive starts that wound up raising his overall ERA by nearly a full run.

With the walk-year pressure gone and the freedom to really let loose – if he wasn’t already – Luzardo is poised for a stellar follow-up act in Year 2 with the Phillies. There’s a reason they wanted to lock his contract in now, rather than let him gradually raise his price tag over the course of the next six months. — Nathan Ackerman

No. 3 — Bryce Harper

• 2025 ranking: 2nd
• Highest 2026 ranking: 2nd
• Lowest 2026 ranking: 6th

Last year was the first time Harper didn’t lead the Phillies in OPS during his tenure with the club. But he didn’t have a bad season. His .844 OPS was 22nd among qualified hitters in the majors and 11th in the National League. It was a down year for him compared to others. But Harper was still one of baseball’s best hitters, meaning he’s still one of the Phillies’ best players entering his year.

The larger question moving forward is whether or not Harper can return to a .900-ish OPS hitter. While having a better hitter behind him in the lineup could help with that, Harper will have to make adjustments to his approach. He was very aggressive last year, swinging at a lot of first pitches and having a near career-high chase rate.

If Harper reins in his aggressiveness a bit – something he should be able to do because he does have a strong feel for the strike zone – there’s no reason to think he can’t return to being the level of hitter he was during the first six seasons of his Phillies career. — Bailey Digh

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No. 2 — Kyle Schwarber

• 2025 ranking: 5th
• Highest 2026 ranking: 2nd
• Lowest 2026 ranking: 5th

Is having Schwarber as the top position player on the Phillies a hot take? Perhaps, but I think it’s safe to say that he is the best hitter in the lineup. He doesn’t need to hit 50 home runs to be great, but it will be fascinating to see how he evolves in 2026. 

Each of Schwarber’s previous four seasons with the Phillies had a different flavor to it. Maybe he unexpectedly finds himself playing a ton of first base and is actually good at it. He wants to be a “complete hitter,” according to his hitting coach Kevin Long. That means hitting for a higher average and cutting down as much as he can on strikeouts. Could Schwarber go from below the Mendoza line to a .300 hitter in three years? It seems like a lofty goal, but don’t ever count out the Schwarbarian. — Destiny Lugardo

No. 1 — Cristopher Sánchez

• 2025 ranking: 3rd
• Highest 2026 ranking: 1st
• Lowest 2026 ranking: 1st

Three years ago, Sánchez was an afterthought entering the season, an inconsistent, unproven depth piece who began 2023 on the injured list and spent most of the first three months in Triple-A. But ever since he joined the Phillies’ rotation for an extended run that June, the left-hander has only continued to soar to new heights.

Sánchez, 29, has developed from surprising breakout stud to All-Star to Cy Young contender. His changeup is one of the most lethal weapons in the entire majors leagues, and his workload has continued to grow. With the ability to keep Sánchez under his current contract until 2030, the Phillies have a true ace for years to come, and he’s firmly in his prime right now. — Ty Daubert

Other Players to Receive Votes: Alec Bohm, Aaron Nola and Brad Keller.