Categories: Analysis

Breaking down the Phillies current bench

Jake Cave is off to a slow start in 2023. (Cheryl Pursell/Phillies Nation)

A Major League Baseball season is a long, six-month, 162-game grind. Between the first pitch on Opening Day and the last out of the regular season, teams end up needing more than the best players on their rosters to contribute in order for the club to remain competitive all year long. That is where the guys on the bench come into play.

Bench players have a vital role for big league teams. They step in when every day players are either injured or need a day off. Sometimes they step into games as a defensive replacement in the later innings or — as a season develops — they take on a platoon role with another player.

The Phillies are 23 games into their season, and have had to go to their bench a lot. The high usage is mainly due to both anticipated and unforeseen injuries to some of the club’s more important players.

It was known that after undergoing offseason Tommy John surgery that Bryce Harper was going to miss time during the first half of the season. What wasn’t known was that first baseman Rhys Hoskins was going to tear his ACL late in spring training and miss the entire season. The organization also wasn’t aware that Hoskins’ replacement — 27-year-old Darick Hall — would suffer a thumb injury in the sixth game of the season that would result in surgery and a two-month absence.

Those injuries have put manager Rob Thomson in a tough spot with the lineup card. He’s had to use players like Jake Cave, Josh Harrison, Crisitan Pache and Kody Clemens a little more than he would if the team was healthier. Those guys — especially Cave — seem to be a bit overexposed as of right now.

The bench was a strength for Philadelphia last year. Players like Matt Vierling, Nick Maton, Edmundo Sosa, and Garrett Stubbs all performed well in the roles they were given.

As the season progressed, Vierling took on the role of fourth outfielder and platoon center fielder. In 2022, the Notre Dame alum was the team’s starting center fielder against left-handed pitching. He had a .760 OPS against southpaws last year.

Maton played both infield and outfield last season while slashing .250/.341/.514 with five home runs in 85 plate appearances for the eventual National League champions.

Sosa — acquired last July from the Cardinals — got the occasional spot start for the Phillies a season ago. He was also often a defensive replacement at third base late in games. With the Phillies, the utility infielder had a 160 OPS+ at the plate and seven outs above average in the field.

After being traded for during the offseason, Stubbs took on the role of backup catcher for the Phillies in 2022. The left-handed hitting backstop made 121 trips to the plate and hit .264/.350/.462 with five home runs. He was also solid defensively behind the plate.

While Sosa — who has been a spark for the Phillies — and Stubbs are still wearing red pinstripes this year, Vierling and Maton were sent to Detroit in the trade where the club acquired left-handed reliever Gregory Soto.

So, with two important part-time players no longer with the organization heading into 2023, the front office had to go out and remake the bench.

Cave was claimed off waivers from the Orioles in December. Harrison was signed to a one-year, $2 million contract in late January. Pache was acquired from Oakland a day before the season began and Clemens was brought in alongside Soto from the Tigers.

In his first 39 at-bats this season, Harrison has a 70 OPS+. The veteran utility man has played second base, third base, and left field so far. Pache — acquired for his defense — has played sparingly and has a .300/.300/.550 slash-line with one home run. Clemens — who has seen time at first base — has a .413 OPS in 20 plate appearances.

Stubbs hasn’t played much this year. He’s only appeared in five games and has just 16 plate appearances. The 29-year-old catcher has two hits and one walk.

While Harrison, Pache, Clemens, and Stubbs all have part-time roles, both Cave and Sosa have been in the lineup more frequently. And their results are polar opposites.

With the injuries to Harper, Hoskins and Hall, Thomson has been using Cave in the field almost everyday — in either right or left field — while using Kyle Schwarber or Nick Castellanos as the designated hitter. Cave hit the ball hard during spring training. He also slashed an impressive .462/.500/.827 with three home runs, four doubles, and three triples in Grapefruit League play. That success hasn’t carried over to the regular season, though.

So far, the veteran outfielder has appeared in 17 of the Phillies first 23 games, and in 61 plate appearances, has a .540 OPS with one home run and two doubles. It is fair to say Cave has been both overmatched and overexposed.

The injuries to Hoskins and Hall — coupled with Clemens’ lack of success at the plate — has moved Alec Bohm to first base on a more regular basis, which has pushed Sosa into a more involved role at third.

Like Cave, Sosa hit well during spring training. But unlike Cave, that success has carried over into the regular season. The 27-year-old infielder is hitting .317/.341/.537 with two home runs through his first 44 plate appearances in 2023.

It is only April, and the Phillies 26-man roster is going to go through changes over the next five months. Hall will eventually return and resume his duties as the club’s every day first baseman. That would move Bohm back to third and Sosa back to being a part-time player.

Harper’s eventual return — which could come much sooner than anyone had originally anticipated — more than likely means one of Cave and Pache would be removed from the big league roster. The two-time NL MVP would only be able to DH once he returns, so that means Schwarber and Castellanos would be playing in the outfield every day. As a result, there won’t be a need for two outfielders on the Phillies’ bench.

It is more likely that Cave becomes the odd man out once Harper returns for two reasons. One being that the veteran outfielder has a minor league option remaining in his contract, while Pache doesn’t.

Secondly, when it comes to a fourth outfielder — especially with the way the Phillies’ roster is currently constructed — defense is much more important than offense. Cave is a solid corner outfielder, but his younger counterpart seems more than capable of playing above league average defense at all three outfield spots.

Again, as the season progresses, Philadelphia’s roster will continue to evolve and players will fall into roles they are better suited for. But for now, the club will have to deal with the less than ideal results from their seemingly overexposed bench players until reinforcements arrive.