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BRADENTON, Fla — Johan Rojas may still be the in the Opening Day lineup for the Philadelphia Phillies, but nothing he’s shown offensively so far in Grapefruit League play has cemented his status as the team’s starting center fielder to begin the season.
A sluggish spring at the plate continued for Rojas Sunday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Pirates, as he went 0-for-4. He was credited with an RBI on a fielder’s choice in the top of the third inning, but he appeared to get a favorable call from the first-base umpire, who called him safe, rather than out as he looked to be.
Had he been called out at first, it would have been an inning-ending double play. Instead, he reached first base, but only briefly as Pittsburgh starter Quinn Priester picked him off shortly thereafter to end the frame.
In his three other at-bats, Rojas was thrown out at first base on a swinging bunt, retired on a shallow fly to center field and thrown out at first base on an actual bunt attempt. (It should be noted that manager Rob Thomson said postgame he’s telling Rojas before one at-bat every game that he will be bunting during that plate appearance.) On the spring, he now has just five hits in 34 at-bats, for a .147 batting average.
“I think it’s gonna come, it’s a bit of an overhaul here,” Thomson said of Rojas’ offensive struggles postgame. “So it’s not syncing up his lower half, as I talked about the last couple of days. He’ll get it.”
It’s often not wise to make much of Spring Training results, but when Rojas has made contact this spring, it has typically been of the soft variety. It’s not as though he’s hitting the ball hard and running into bad luck. And it’s especially concerning in that in feels like a carryover from last postseason, when he hit .093 in 14 playoff games for the Phillies.
Granted, Rojas did hit .302 across his first 59 MLB games last regular season. But there were always some warning signs that his early success at the plate wasn’t going to continue. Rojas’ batting average on balls in play was .410 a year ago, which was an unsustainable clip when you consider that the league average is “around .300.”
Since the start of last postseason, Rojas’ offensive output has plummeted. The biggest problem is he doesn’t provide a ton of value offensively if he’s not getting hits. He’s lightning fast, but that’s a moot point if he’s not on base. And he isn’t some who works long counts or draws many walks, as he had just five walks in 164 plate appearances a season ago.
Rojas does play world-class defense in center field, and that’s not hyperbolic. He robbed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of an extra-base hit in Saturday’s Grapefruit League loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. And over just 392 innings in center field for the Phillies a season ago, Rojas posted 15 defensive runs saved and six outs above average, staggering production over less than half a season. Having him in center field is such a weapon.
But president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said in November that the Phillies would need more from Rojas offensively than they got in the postseason for him to open 2024 in the majors. The toolsy 23-year-old is someone you feel like has more offensive upside to be tapped into. So far this spring, though, he doesn’t look much different than last postseason, when he was clearly overmatched at the plate.
So what does Rojas needs to do over the final couple weeks of Spring Training to open the season at the MLB level?
“Just have better at-bats,” Thomson said. “Once the lower-half syncs up, he’ll be good to go. When that’s gonna happen, I don’t know.”
Perhaps then the best course of action would be for Rojas to open 2024 at Triple-A, a level he’s never previously played at. It wouldn’t be Plan A, but Nick Castellanos is entrenched in right field. The Phillies could make things work with some combination of Brandon Marsh, Cristian Pache, Jake Cave and David Dahl in center and left field to start the season. Even for a team with World Series aspirations, properly developing Rojas as a hitter should be a long-term priority for the Phillies organization.
