Phillies news and rumors 5/16: Johan Rojas addresses defensive miscues

Johan Rojas is in his second season. (Grace Del Pizzo/Phillies Nation)

Known for his glove, Phillies center fielder Johan Rojas made a pair of defensive blunders on Wednesday. After the game, the 23-year-old didn’t have much of an explanation as he addressed the fielding miscues.

”Nothing, I just have to catch those balls,” he told reporters through an interpreter after a 10-5 win over the Mets. “There’s no excuse for me. I’ll just come here tomorrow to work on that and make those plays.”

Rojas made an error on a fly ball on the first play of the game, then failed to haul in an eighth-inning drive that he tracked down in impressive fashion. The latter would’ve been a tough play to make, but those tough plays are supposed to be the reason the light-hitting outfielder sees his name penciled in the lineup on a regular basis.

The mistakes in the field didn’t end up costing the Phillies (31-13), who cruised to their third straight victory over New York as Ranger Suárez picked up his league-leading eighth win and lowered his season ERA to 1.37. Rojas contributed with an RBI infield single and a run scored.

“Tremendous job from Ranger, tremendous job from the bullpen and the offense as well,” Rojas said. “It was a great night.”

Beyond Wednesday, Rojas’ defense has not graded out as highly as it did last season so far in 2024. He’s posted one Out Above Average in 36 games, as opposed to a staggering nine Outs Above Average in 59 games as a rookie.

He’ll look to improve that production and move past Wednesday going forward.

“As I said, there’s no excuse,” he said. “I should have caught those balls. But the important thing is for me to show up tomorrow and work on that, and that’s what I’m going to do. I have to be better, [and] I’ll give my 100% to be better.”

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