Phillies News and Rumors 7/20: Edmundo Sosa’s uncharacteristic defensive struggles continue

Edmundo Sosa has struggled at third base this year. (Cheryl Pursell)

When the Phillies traded JoJo Romero to the St. Louis Cardinals for Edmundo Sosa three days before the 2022 trade deadline, the goal was to acquire a glove-first utilityman who can bounce around the field and, regardless of where he is, play superb defense.

It’s exactly what they got. Actually, they got a whole lot more than that. Sosa was a sparkplug for the Phillies in the second half, hitting .315 while holding down the left side of the infield as a consistent source of energy for a Phillies team fighting some late-season demons as they tried to finally get over the postseason hump.

That alone made it a worthwhile trade. But something odd has happened to Sosa this season.

It’s not his offense. His .249 average and .676 OPS is a step back from 2022, but it’s more in line with what Sosa had done offensively since debuting in 2018, and anyway, it’s not too much of a disaster for someone who likely won’t be starting down the stretch.

The oddity is his defense. Sosa has always been a phenomenal defender, but his second-inning error on Wednesday — which led to three Brewers runs — was his eighth of the year. That trails only Trea Turner’s 10 for the team lead; the next closest Phillie has only four, and that’s despite a comparatively light workload.

In fairness, Sosa made an outstanding diving snag at third later in the game. But he has -3 defensive runs saved at third base this year. He’s never been below water in that category — at any position, any year of his career.

It might partially be explained by his relative unfamiliarity at third base. Sosa was primarily a shortstop with the Cardinals in 2021 and 2022, but he’s found himself almost exclusively at the hot corner in 2023. Rhys Hoskins’ ACL tear facilitated that, creating a need for Alec Bohm to shift across the diamond against left-handed pitching and thus opening a vacancy at third base. That all came after the Phillies had experimented with Sosa in center field during spring training as an option to back up Brandon Marsh against occasional lefties.

Still, Sosa got a taste of third base last year, including with Philadelphia. He played 82 innings at third with the Phillies (regular and postseason) and graded out as an above average defender there — after playing 65 error-free innings at third with the Cardinals before the deadline deal.

By all accounts, this season is an aberration for Sosa from a defensive standpoint, and though third base might not be his natural position, it’s reasonable to expect some regression to the mean — even if the season is over halfway complete. Still, it’s such an aberration for the usually sure-handed infielder that it’s worth pointing out, if only for purposes of wondering just how that aberration came to be.

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Former Phillie Nation

This is about the strangest at bat you will see from Harper, ever. Perhaps former Phillie Hoby Milner is just too nasty, brother. (Though these days, he actually is quite nasty. He dropped his ERA to 2.31.)