Edmundo Sosa’s hot streak could force the Phillies to get creative
The Phillies were 22-11 when star shortstop Trea Turner went down with a left hamstring injury. The initial timetable given to Turner was six weeks. He still has a chance of beating that timeline, despite dealing with some soreness during the Phillies’ west coast trip to San Francisco Giants. Turner ran, changed directions, took ground balls and hit in the cage prior to Saturday’s game against St. Louis.
But there’s no real need for Turner to rush back because his replacement, Edmundo Sosa, has been on an unreal hot streak.
It’s led to some playful banter in the clubhouse with Turner. Maybe Sosa is good enough to take his spot for good?
“Trea’s been ragged quite a bit about it,” hitting coach Kevin Long joked.
Sosa has been the best player in the National League since Turner went down, according to FanGraphs WAR. His 1.4 fWAR since May 4 puts him just ahead of his teammate Bryce Harper and the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani.
That kind of streak won’t last forever, but it’s come at a time the Phillies need it the most. He is slashing .313/.387/.627 with 11 extra-base hits since May 4. His two-run home run in the second inning helped propel his team to a 4-2 victory on Friday to clinch win No. 20 in May for the Phillies.
His improved patience at the plate is paying off. His pitches per plate appearances is up slightly from 3.76 in 2023 to 4.03. His contact rate and first-pitch swinging percentage are both down. His seven walks this season so far is one away from tying his season total last season.
More importantly, Sosa is not missing the pitches he should do damage with. His run value on pitches over the heart of the plate, according to Statcast, is up from -7 last year to 8.
“I’m working as hard as I can,” Sosa said via interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “I think my approach, managing when to be aggressive and when to be a little more patient at the plate, I think that’s been the key to my success right now. I’ve been chasing less and I try to look for pitches close to me that I can take wherever I want or wherever my mind is set at the moment. I think it’s been all about adjustments. Adjustments during at-bats. Adjustments during the games. I’m going to continue to adjust.”
Long also sees a more relaxed version of Sosa, one whose main focus is to do whatever he can to help his team win.
“I think his thought process is really really good and the fact that he’s just trying to help the team win, that’s really all he’s trying to do, it tends to help you relax and not try to do too much,” Long said. “The state that he’s in right now, his mindset of helping the team, I think it’s working wonderfully.”
That mindset, and the desire to have Sosa’s bat in the lineup, even with Turner back at shortstop, could also lead to some more playing time for Sosa at an unfamiliar position.
The Phillies experimented with playing Sosa in center field during spring training 2023. The team was in need of a backup center fielder to Brandon Marsh. The thought was to possibly have him take down some reps against tougher left-handed starting pitchers. The Phillies ended up keeping Sosa in the infield and acquiring Cristian Pache from the Athletics in the lead up to Opening Day.
When asked if the Phillies could think about getting Sosa some at-bats in the outfield down the road, manager Rob Thomson expressed an openness to the idea.
“Absolutely,” Thomson said. “Absolutely. If he keeps hitting like this, it’s going to be tough to take him out of the lineup. Gotta find a spot for him someplace.”
The Phillies’ depth in the corner outfield spots is not great. Brandon Marsh is entrenched in left field, but he has struggled mightily against left-handed pitching. The Phillies are committed to Johan Rojas as an everyday center fielder, but that could change as he’s batting .229 with a .572 OPS. Nick Castellanos has started every game in right field and has shown signs of improvement in recent days, but Sosa could be looked at as a break glass in case of emergency option if Castellanos never fully gets going.
There’s opportunity and it wouldn’t take too long to prepare Sosa for the outfield. Thomson emphasized that the Phillies haven’t had any concrete discussions on the topic, but if the Phillies move forward with such a plan, Sosa will need about a week of pregame work with outfield coach Paco Figueroa.
“Get as close to game-like reads as you can,” Thomson said.
Sosa for now will continue to start regularly at shortstop for the Phillies as Turner works his way back. Above all else, everyone in the Phillies clubhouse is happy to see a great person like Sosa thrive at the right time.
“At the end of the day, I know Trea is really happy for Edmundo,” Long said. “Everybody roots for him. Everybody knows the time and effort that he puts into doing this job. He was ready for this opportunity and he ceased it.”
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