Breakout Player Johan Rojas' Future Becomes Clearer with Club Entering 2024 Season
Much of the conversation surrounding the Philadelphia Phillies during the regular season was about their poor defense in the outfield.
That was expected with Bryce Harper unable to play right field.
Nick Castellanos moved into that full time role and Kyle Schwarber had to play everyday in left.
This prompted speculation that the Phillies' front office would trade for an outfielder at the deadline.
Instead, they opted to promote their star prospect Johan Rojas from Double-A and he turned into one of the best defensive players in the MLB.
He posted a figure of 15 defensive runs saved and was three outs above average in center, turning Philadelphia's outfield defensive struggles into an afterthought.
But, Rojas struggled mightily at the plate during the postseason.
This has prompted Dave Dombrowski to evaluate what they will do with the young player going forward.
"So I’m not going to anoint him a position with our big league club next year. He has to be able to contribute some offensively or else then he has to go down and continue to develop. [That] doesn’t mean we don’t love him, we think he’s a really good player. But we do need more offense than that out of a position," he said.
Considering Rojas never played at the Triple-A level before being called-up, it wouldn't be a bad option for his career development.
After recording a slash line of .302/.342/.430 in 149 regular season at-bats, he was reduced to a .093 batting average with 15 strikeouts in 43 at-bats during the postseason.
Dombrowski admitted that their offense was able to mask much of the struggles that Rojas had at the plate during the regular season, but that didn't translate to the playoffs.
"And we really did that until we got to the postseason. And they really went after him and he scuffled at that point," he said.
It seems like there is a real possibility that the star defensive outfielder could find himself starting the year in Triple-A.
