After years of work, Johan Rojas is finally getting a handle on bunting

Johan Rojas experienced a breakthrough.

The Phillies have been trying to get the speedy center fielder comfortable with bunting for years. He has spent countless hours on the backfields of the Carpenter Complex and at batting practice crafting his skill at a lost art. At times, he has looked hesitant in situations that have called for a bunt. Like baseball, bunting is hard. Very hard.

But Rojas is one of the very few players in baseball whose game can benefit dramatically from learning how to bunt. Bryce Harper likes to lay a surprise one down from time to time. Kyle Schwarber inexplicably squared up to bunt in Game 6 of the World Series. The Phillies would like these guys to swing away at all times. But Rojas’ speed gives him a greater chance at reaching first base safely. Others have to land a perfect one.

Before his at-bat in the bottom of the fifth, manager Rob Thomson alerted Rojas about a possible bunt opportunity if the batter ahead of him Edmundo Sosa reached base safely. Sosa singled, then advanced to second on a wild pickoff throw. Sensing that the pitcher Kyle Freeland was vulnerable to another bad throw, Rojas aimed for the mound on a bunt attempt. He reached base without a throw. The second baseman was too far off the bag and could not cover in time.

A Trea Turner infield hit led to a bases loaded, no-out opportunity that should have put the game away. Instead, the No. 2, 3 and 4 hitters, Harper, Alec Bohm and Kyle Schwarber all struck out.

It was a brutal sequence for the Phillies. Luckily, the team can rely on the hitters at the bottom of the order to pick them up. In his next at-bat, Rojas laid down another bunt. Sosa, on after hitting another single, advanced to second on a passed ball. He then reach third when Rojas once again bunted to the mound. Freeland may have had a play at third if the third baseman was a little quicker to get over, but he took the out at first. Trea Turner then drove in the Phillies’ third run of the game on a base hit. In his first start since Opening Day, Turner went 3-for-5 with three singles.

An inning later, Rojas contributed to the Phillies’ eighth inning rally with a walk to give the top of the lineup another bases loaded opportunity that they failed to capitalize on.

The line on the box score for Rojas said 2-for-2 with a walk and sacrifice.

“This was the best major league game he has played, in my opinion” Thomson said after the Phillies’ 5-1 win over the Colorado Rockies. “Because that’s exactly what he needs to do. He needs to move runners, put the ball in play, sacrifice, play good defense. He really played well.”

That’s probably recency bias talking. Rojas has had more consequential games in a Phillies uniform. He made a leaping catch at the wall and doubled up a runner at first in his MLB debut in July 2023. He has hit homers. He may have saved Game 4 of the 2023 NLDS with his running catch to rob Ronald Acuña Jr. of multiple RBIs.

But Thomson is partially right: As far as executing the role the Phillies envision for him at the plate, this was the best he has looked. When he is spelling either Brandon Marsh or Max Kepler, he is probably going to hit ninth. His job is to find any way he can to be a productive at-bat.

“I moved the runner,” Rojas said about his seventh inning at-bat. “I do my job. I saw the runner with no outs on second base. I said, ‘I’ve got to bunt.’ Move to third base to get Trea Turner behind me to put him in good position to hit.”

For more traditional baseball fans, it’s hard to fathom that bunting is slowly becoming extinct. With the league average fastball creeping up to nearly 95 mph, it’s becoming harder and harder to lay the bat head down and not hit a ground ball directly at an infielder.

“It’s a different position that you’re in” Thomson said. “There’s a certain bat angle that you want. It’s tough because you got to get it out front. Sometimes, it’s easy to practice because you’re on a machine or you’re off an arm that’s throwing batting practice. If you get a guy throwing 98 miles-per-hour, it’s a little bit more difficult.”

That’s why it’s cool to see a player like Rojas finally start to grasp the aspect of the game that has stumped him for a while.

“I hate to lose,” Rojas said. “I just put the bunt down to get my other guy, and put him in the best position to win the game. That’s all.”