Last night, the Philadelphia Phillies won their game 8-5 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. On the mound for Chicago was veteran left-hander Drew Smyly. And as a result of facing a left-handed pitcher, manager Rob Thomson shuffled his lineup around to include more right-handed hitters.
Alec Bohm shifted over to first base for Kody Clemens, while Edmundo Sosa played third. Offseason acquisition Josh Harrison started at second for Bryson Stott. In center, Cristian Pache started over Brandon Marsh, who homered twice the night before.
This isn’t new. It’s something Thomson has been doing all season. But there has been one issue with the platooning game plan — it doesn’t seem to be working in certain areas.
The Marsh-Pache platoon makes sense when looking over the numbers. In 65 plate appearances against lefties, Marsh has a .649 OPS this year — much lower than his .898 OPS against right-handers. And even though it is a small sample size — 28 plate appearances before last night to be exact — Pache has a 1.000 OPS against southpaws in 2023.
Putting Sosa, who homered last night, in the lineup isn’t much worse than having Clemens in there. They’re both glove-first players who have been over-exposed at the dish this year.
However, with Harrison hitting the way he has, coupled with Stott’s splits, it doesn’t make much sense to play the veteran over the youngster. It could also be time to start considering other names for Harrison’s roster spot if the Phillies continue sitting Stott against lefties on a semi-regular basis.
Now, Harrison did go 2-for-4 with a home run yesterday, but in his 82 at-bats before last night’s contest, the 35-year-old was hitting .220/.270/.280 on the year. As for Stott, his OPS of .798 against lefties is higher than his .731 OPS when facing right-handed pitchers.
Players need days off. And that’s understandable. But sitting Stott more often than not against left-handed starters in favor of Harrison isn’t.
The Aug. 1 trade deadline is approaching. Maybe the front office goes out and improves the club’s bench. However, there are bigger needs to fill. Adding pitching depth is always important at the deadline. Also, given the current plan to eventually have Bryce Harper play some first base, the argument can be made that Philadelphia would benefit from adding a right-handed hitter with some pop who can play left field — with Kyle Schwarber DHing — along with a corner infield spot on occasion.
So, if the Phillies would like to upgrade Harrison’s current spot on the roster, and they can’t find any external players to replace him, there is one internal option they could consider — Scott Kingery.
The former second-round pick has been hitting well of late down in Triple-A. After an okay start to the year, Kingery has posted a .317/.397/.517 slash line in his first 60 at-bats in June. He’s also hitting .282/.378/.449 against lefties so far this year and has logged innings at second base, third base and center field.
Kingery would fit into a second base role when Thomson wants to sit Stott against left-handed pitchers and he has experience all over the diamond if he is needed elsewhere. It would take some roster maneuvering to get Kingery to the majors, though, since he isn’t on the Phillies 40-man roster at the moment.
No matter what the club ultimately decides to do, altering their current platoon plans that include Harrison should at the very least be under consideration if he doesn’t start to hit on a more regular basis.
Must-watch (or read) Phillies content
- Could the Phillies acquire a rival’s ace at the trade deadline? Phillies Nation’s Nathan Ackerman discussed the possibility yesterday.
- Rule 5 Draft pick Noah Song began a rehab assignment last night and MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki outlined Song’s road to making it to the big leagues.
- Speaking of Song, here he is recording a strikeout last night:
- Alex Coffey of The Inquirer penned an article yesterday about Darick Hall’s rehab process, along with his strong Triple-A numbers and possible return to the Phillies.
- Thomas Boswell, a sports columnist for the Washington Post, wrote a rather interesting piece about how the Nationals made the right decision in letting their stars, including Trea Turner, leave in recent years.
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