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Weston Wilson Out At Least Six Weeks Due To Oblique Strain

By Nick Deeds | February 22, 2025 at 3:56pm CDT

Phillies manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including Matt Gelb of The Athletic) today that infielder/outfielder Weston Wilson has been diagnosed with a strained oblique that will keep him out of action for at least the next six weeks.

Wilson, 30, was widely viewed as the favorite for the final spot on Philadelphia’s Opening Day bench. Either Rafael Marchan or Garrett Stubbs will occupy one spot as the club’s backup catcher behind J.T. Realmuto, while Edmundo Sosa and Johan Rojas are locked into bench spots already as well. Wilson appeared to be a likely candidate for that final spot due to his right-handed bat that could serve as a complement for Max Kepler and Brandon Marsh in the outfield, as well as his ability to play all four corners and even second base as needed.

The 30-year-old’s big league opportunities have been fairly limited to this point in his career, but the club will surely miss his bat off the bench. Wilson’s done nothing but hit when given the opportunity in the majors, slashing .288/.375/.490 (139 wRC+) for his career including 98 plate appearances last year where he slashed .284/.347/.489 (130 wRC+). Wilson’s career .388 BABIP has propped up his production somewhat to this point, and it’s certain to come down as he gets more opportunities in the majors. With that being said, even the 110 wRC+ Wilson posted at Triple-A last year would be an asset on a Philadelphia bench that lacks much offensive presence.

Unfortunately for Wilson and the Phillies, they won’t get the opportunity to see what he can do as part of the bench mix to open the season. With Wilson now off the table as an option, an opportunity has been created for other players to step into the role. Center fielder Cal Stevenson offered decent production at the plate (100 wRC+) in a brief cup of coffee with the Phillies last year, but his left-handed bat would be somewhat redundant in the club’s outfield mix and he lacks the versatility to play the infield. If the club was going to add a lefty bat to its bench mix, Kody Clemens would seem to be the more natural fit given his experience at all four infield spots and the outfield corners as well as his decent showing in 120 plate appearances with the Phillies last year. While he hit just .219 with a lackluster .258 on-base percentage during that time, he showed plenty of pop with five homers, nine doubles, and a triple that allowed him to post a decent 92 wRC+ overall.

Of course, replacing Wilson with another righty bat would likely make the most sense. Gelb suggests that the injury to Wilson figures to “considerably” improve the odds that 26-year-old infielder Buddy Kennedy makes the club’s Opening Day roster, and it’s not hard to see why. A fifth-round pick by the Diamondbacks in 2017, Kennedy made his big league debut back in 2022 and split 2024 between the Tigers and Phillies organizations. He hit .190/.308/.381 (95 wRC+) in 26 big league plate appearances last year, but more important than his performance in that small sample size was his excellent work for the Phillies at Triple-A Lehigh Valley last year.

In 300 plate appearances, Kennedy slashed an excellent .294/.400/.500 with a 13.7% walk rate that nearly matched his strikeout rate of just 15.0%. If Kennedy can offer anything close to that level of plate discipline in a bench role, he’d be a very valuable bench piece for the club this season. Kennedy has played exclusively second and third base to this point in the majors but has experience at first, shortstop, and left field in the minors. That at least leaves the door open for the club to rely on him as a right-handed complement to Kepler in left field, which likely would’ve been Wilson’s most prominent role.

While it seems likely that the Phillies would prefer to give the final bench job to one of the hitters already on their 40-man roster, there are at least a handful of non-roster invitees who could receive consideration for a bench job. Second baseman Christian Arroyo had some success in the majors with the Red Sox in 2021 and ’22, while outfielder Oscar Mercado has had intermittent success in the majors with Cleveland and St. Louis in the past. Both players are less versatile than what the club may be looking for off the bench, however, and other non-roster veterans like Rodolfo Castro have fairly limited track records in the majors themselves.

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Philadelphia Phillies Buddy Kennedy Cal Stevenson Kody Clemens Weston Wilson

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View Comments (16)
Post a Comment

16 Comments

  1. DarkSide830

    4 months ago

    Free my man!

    Otto Kemp stocks up tho.

    1
    Reply
    • cpdpoet

      4 months ago

      Philly media fawns over Kennedy, but I’m on board w/ Team Kemp.

      Reply
  2. BruntlettSupastar

    4 months ago

    Things are looking mighty o-blique for Weston

    2
    Reply
  3. Rsox

    4 months ago

    Would the Phillies consider tapping the Merrifield well once again?

    Reply
    • BurnerK

      4 months ago

      Doubtful they are backed up on the bench with good men out of options this year.

      1
      Reply
  4. Ignorant Son-of-a-b

    4 months ago

    I guess so much for 1st Place then. But they still have a shot at the Wild Card. Spring injuries can be crushing and demoralizing.

    Reply
  5. AC Surf Baseball

    4 months ago

    Good thing we don’t have to face Max Fried anymore, because we have no one that hits LHP. The final bench spot will come down to Cal Stevenson or Johan Rojas, who somehow hit worse against southpaws. Kody Clemens just breathed a sign of relief. The Phillies should be exploring the trade market for a RH OF’er.

    Reply
    • DakotaJoe

      4 months ago

      4-6 lifetime against the Phillies with over 4.00 ERA.

      2
      Reply
  6. kabphillie

    4 months ago

    I can’t tell if this is a joke, satire, delusional or just weird. There are dozens of players every year who are in spring training trying to get a bench spot. If you aren’t a fan of a particular team, you won’t hear about most of them.

    Phillies fans have known about Weston Wilson for a few years now. He’s had a few cups of coffee and a few break out games. He hit for the cycle with the Phillies last August.

    I think you might need to touch grass.

    7
    Reply
    • cpdpoet

      4 months ago

      Probably had his reddit account suspended? However it was so weird I had to read it a second time….? Just in case…

      3
      Reply
      • Boz32

        4 months ago

        To be fair, who that isn’t a far left liberal hasn’t had their Reddit account suspended?

        1
        Reply
      • Bart Harley Jarvis

        4 months ago

        @Boz32,
        Care for some dressing for that word salad?

        Reply
      • Boz32

        4 months ago

        I think we stopped using that phrase when the old ‘ho was no longer relevant.

        Reply
      • Bart Harley Jarvis

        4 months ago

        Using the ‘royal we’?

        Reply
    • Bart Harley Jarvis

      4 months ago

      @cdpoet,
      Can’t it be all four?

      1
      Reply
  7. Boz32

    4 months ago

    So I made a bad investment on all those autographed Wilson cards I bought over the winter?

    Reply

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