The Phillies are making center fielder Johan Rojas available in trade conversations, reports Matt Gelb of The Athletic. That’s not especially surprising, as the 25-year-old spent the final two months of the season on optional assignment to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Rojas has appeared in each of the past three big league seasons. He has primarily worked as a fourth outfielder. He’s an elite athlete who hasn’t shown much with the bat. The righty-hitting Rojas owns a .252/.294/.340 slash in just under 700 career plate appearances. He rarely walks and hits a lot of soft ground-balls that limit his power upside. Rojas hasn’t been good against pitchers of either handedness, so the Phillies haven’t been able to maximize his production by using him as a short-side platoon player.
While there’s a limited offensive ceiling, Rojas is one of the sport’s best defensive outfielders. He’s among the fastest players in baseball and has a plus-plus arm. Both Defensive Runs Saved (+22) and Statcast (+21) have valued him more than 20 runs better than average in a little over 1700 career innings. Rojas ranks among the top 15 center fielders in MLB in both metrics over the past three seasons. That’s despite playing fewer innings at the position than all but Kevin Kiermaier and Daulton Varsho among those who ranked above him.
Despite the glove, it appears Rojas is falling out of favor in Philly. They acquired Harrison Bader at the deadline to bring in a better glove-first, righty-hitting center fielder. Bader is now a free agent, but it doesn’t seem the Phillies want to give that spot back to Rojas. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski acknowledged yesterday that he’s looking for a right-handed hitting outfielder again this offseason even as they’re apparently making Rojas available to other clubs. He still has one minor league option remaining, so the Phils could send him back to Triple-A if nothing comes together.
A potential Rojas trade is part of a larger overhaul in the Philadelphia outfield. Nick Castellanos is almost certainly going to be traded or released. Gelb reported as much last month, and Dombrowski acknowledged yesterday that “sometimes a change of scenery can be beneficial for people” when asked about that situation. Max Kepler is unlikely to be re-signed, and the Phillies will want to get former first-round pick Justin Crawford into the mix early in the year. Dombrowski told reporters that the Phillies would be comfortable with Crawford as a center fielder, but most public scouting reports feel he projects better in left. He and Brandon Marsh are the likeliest options to start on Opening Day, yet they’ll need a right fielder and probably a righty-hitting fourth outfielder if they move on from Rojas.
Moving Bryce Harper back to the outfield is apparently not a consideration. For the past few seasons, Harper has said he’s willing to play right field if it enables the Phils to land a big bat at first base. Dombrowski downplayed the club’s interest in doing that.
“He’s actually (said) that for a couple years now, and we really appreciate the aspect of it, but we really look at him as a first baseman at this time,” Dombrowksi said (link via Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer). “I’m sure he could go out there, but he’s played first well. He’s a good first baseman and continues to get better. We really like our club with him there, so I think he is more of our first baseman.”
Harper has been a full-time first baseman over the past two seasons. Public defensive metrics graded him highly in 2024, though his numbers fell back to league average this year. The Phils could get him a few more designated hitter at-bats if Kyle Schwarber signs elsewhere. Harper remains a solid athlete and probably would have the range to play a decent right field, but the Phillies have wanted to avoid using him out there since he underwent elbow surgery over the 2022-23 offseason.
Dombrowski also touched on the relationship between the organization and the two-time MVP. There was a bit of controversy when Harper took umbrage with the executive’s comment that his ’25 campaign was not “an elite season like he has had in the past.” Harper said in late October that he hadn’t heard from Dombrowski personally. That apparently has changed, as the front office leader said the sides have “had a nice conversation, and everything went well.”
In one other piece of Phillies news, the club announced the hiring of Edwar Gonzalez as an assistant hitting coach. They had a vacancy in that role after Dustin Lind departed to accept the lead hitting coach job with the Orioles. It’s an internal promotion for the 42-year-old, who has spent the past three seasons in the organization. Gonzalez had been the club’s assistant director of hitting development and has one season of experience on an MLB coaching staff, as he spent the ’22 season as an assistant hitting coach for the Marlins. He and Rafael Pena will work as assistants under top hitting instructor Kevin Long.
I think the Phillies would’ve beaten the Blue Jays had they survived the Dodgers series. They clearly need to take aim at LA and figure out a way to get past them. Better defense & situational hitting seems like a start.
I can’t say they would’ve beaten the Jays. The Jays were hitting the hell out of the ball.
Honestly, it’s tough to say what they need to get past the Dodgers. The Dodgers didn’t outhit the Phillies or the Blue Jays. They didn’t really outpitch them either. They just won. Baseball is funny sometimes.
I don’t think we’d have beat the Blue Jays. I think the only teams we don’t beat in the playoffs this year were the Dodgers or the Blue Jays.
As far as what we need, definitely better defense and situational hitting like you said, we need a better plate approach as a team overall though. Too many guys swinging at first pitches with runners in scoring position.
We need to address the pitching as well. Gonna need at least 1 starter and as usual the bullpen needs some work.
80% of the Phillies offense in the series vs LA came against a pitcher who is now retired. The Phillies offense vanishes in October. I don’t know if it’s the weather or the team approach, but they don’t hit in the playoffs against evenly matched teams for whatever reason.
This is a common thing people say, but the Dodgers hit less than the Phillies and won. The Dodgers also hit less than the Blue Jays and won.
The Phillies didn’t lose this year because of their offense. They lost because of mistakes.
How many of those runs did the Phillies score against Kershaw, who was on the roster for ceremonial purposes? 6 of their 15 or something like that?
Problem is the Dodgers won’t stand still and have a near bottomless financial well. I also think the Mets and Braves will be better in 2026.
Not moving Harper back to the grass, even part time, is a mistake.
Position flexibility is a luxury. Bryce in the OF would allow the team to play Castellanos at First and extract some value out of him. Resigning Schwarber would be nice but he’s limited to DH/1B.
Bellinger makes a lot of sense for the Phillies.
Castellanos is a cancer who can’t hit.
No way. Dude has too many injuries to move him back to a more physically demanding position. That’s counterintuitive. He would be better served to be on the field less, getting DH at bats, not adding in a more athletically taxing position.
And secondly- in what world do you see Castellanos in the team next year? Because that’s not happening.