The Phillies pitching staff has allowed only 22 walks through the first eight games. Here’s why.

WASHINGTON — The Phillies’ pitching staff had a tumultuous start to the season, but despite that, over the first eight games, it has allowed only 22 walks. That’s the third-lowest number in Major League Baseball, behind the Twins and the Orioles. Only eight of those walks came from the starting rotation, and six came from reliever Connor Brogdon, who was traded to the Dodgers on Saturday.

It’s a small sample, but, at this point last season, Phillies pitchers had allowed 33 free passes, which was the 10th-highest total in MLB. Pitching coach Caleb Cotham says it’s no fluke. He believes that they are reaping the benefits of the message they’ve been preaching to pitchers for more than a year now: Don’t overthink. Just throw strikes.

On Sunday, the Phillies gave up four walks in a 3-2 loss at the Washington Nationals. Starting pitcher Chris Sánchez issued three walks in 4 1/3 innings, and reliever Yunior Marte one over 1 2/3 innings.

“The value of throwing a strike is probably not as valued as much as it should be,” Cotham said. “So, I think it’s easy to not feel the damage or the cost of throwing a ball. It’s something we talk about a lot. It’s something our guys really care about. And the belief is we throw the ball over the plate, our stuff will play, and we’ll get guys out.”

Catcher J.T. Realmuto said this was something the Phillies preached all through spring training.

“Caleb and [assistant pitching coach Brian] Kaplan really pounded it into the guys,” Realmuto said. “We have really good stuff, and we have guys that have multiple pitches that are plus-plus pitches, so we’ve just got to trust it. Make the hitter beat us, and let’s not beat ourselves.

“Most of the time, our stuff is going to win over lineups, even when we’re facing good lineups. It’s when we walk guys, it’s when we get behind in the count, that we become a little more predictable. And that’s when usually bad things happen. So I think it’s just having a belief in their stuff and trusting themselves and attacking the big part of the zone and just going right at the guys.”

This is not a new message, but now, with the benefit of time, it is resonating in ways it didn’t last year. Take a pitcher like Marte. For nearly his entire career, he has struggled with his strike-throwing ability. He always had the stuff to pitch in the big leagues but struggled to keep it in the zone.

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It kept Marte from locking down a permanent bullpen spot last season. He lowered his walk rate from 10.3% in 2022 to 9.3% in 2023, but it was still higher than the league average (8.6%). He particularly struggled against right-hand batters. Marte walked them at a clip of 10.2% last season, vs. 8.1% against lefties.

So, this offseason, he decided to change his mindset. He fully bought into what Cotham and Kaplan were preaching, and discussed it with a pitching coach he works with in the Dominican Republic, Giancarlo Rodríguez. After Sunday’s loss, he has allowed only two walks through his five regular-season outings.

“It’s all mental,” Marte said. “I’m only focusing on throwing strikes, and that’s it. Controlling on what I can control. If something bad happens, it happens, and if something good happens, it happens. But I’m focusing on what I can control.

“Last year, I worried a lot about things I had no power over. Are they going to hit my pitches, or not? Now, I’m not doing that. When I talked to my pitching coach, he told me exactly that — don’t worry about what happens after you let go of the ball. Throw strikes, nothing else. Put your attention on that.”

The Phillies made a few other tweaks. Marte is now throwing his sinker from his glove side most of the time because it has so much movement. But both he and Cotham say the biggest difference has been his mentality.

“You could tell with Marte, when he went through spring training, when he did walk someone it was different,” Cotham said. “It was inside of a battle, smaller miss. And it mattered to him. You could tell. So, he’s been fantastic to start the year. He’s practicing ways to get in the zone more.”

Added Cotham: “There’s not a lot of turnover so far [on the team]. So there’s a year in with some of these guys, multiple years. You can go a couple of layers deeper on adjustments. When it’s not moving, where can I aim differently? Things like that. J.T. is getting to know them more and more.

“So, I think it’s the culmination of a lot of different things. And just time.”

Manager Rob Thomson said starter Taijuan Walker (right shoulder soreness) came in Sunday feeling good after his live batting practice on Saturday morning. It’s likely Walker will start a rehab assignment soon. When he does, he’ll begin with about three innings (55-65 pitches) and build up in 15-pitch increments until he reaches 100 to 105 pitches.