Could This Be Breakout Year for Struggling Philadelphia Phillies Player on Offense?

The Philadelphia Phillies know what they have defensively in Johan Rojas.

After being called up immediately from Double-A in 2023 because of injuries to the outfield unit and poor defensive play, the speedster showcased that he was one of the best in all of Major League Baseball when it came to his glove.

The offense is a different story.

Rojas actually showed well during the 2023 campaign at the plate, slashing .302/.342/.430 with two homers, 23 RBI and an OPS+ that was 10 percentage points above the league average across his 59 games and 164 plate appearances.

But during the playoffs, he was an abysmal 4-for-43 with 15 strikeouts, providing the team with nothing when he was up in the order.

That happens for young players, especially on that type of stage, so with an offseason for him to work on different things heading into 2024, there was some hope that he would be able to figure it out and return to at least an average hitter.

That wasn't the case.

Rojas slashed .243/.279/.322 for an OPS+ of 69, and across the larger sample size of 120 games and 363 plate appearances, that really hurt what the Phillies were able to do offensively.

It also created the conundrum Philadelphia faced this winter.

They no longer could just hope Rojas would figure things out, forcing them to take a gamble on Max Kepler in free agency who has high upside, but also can be a strikeout machine when he's slumping, something the Phillies already have too much of in their lineup as is.

At just 24 years old, nobody is giving up on Rojas.

The situation they put him in by promoting him to the Majors in 2023 before he faced a single Triple-A pitch was borderline unfair when it came to his development, something the organization knows and is willing to be patient about when it comes to his future.

But they're also stuck between a rock and a hard place.

His defense is too good for him not to play, but without any offensive game to go with it, they're also rolling out a lineup that is basically eight guys instead of nine.

That is unless this is the breakout season for Rojas at the plate.

The struggling hitter competed in the Dominican Winter League this year, playing with the Gigantes del Cibao which allowed him to get more reps in game settings.

And Rojas performed well.

Per MLB.com, he slashed .295/.382/.389 with a homer and eight RBI across his 27 games and 95 at-bats, striking out 22 times while drawing 15 walks.

Philadelphia would take those numbers, especially because it allowed him to get on base enough times for him to steal 23 bags without getting caught once.

So far, that success has carried over into camp, catching the attention of manager Rob Thomson.

"He's slowed down his movement. The movements are smaller in his load. His swing is more under control – more of a line drive-type swing, and that's what we want," he said per MLB.com. "I like what I see so far."

Performing in the best league in the world against the best pitchers in the world is different than having a good stretch in the Dominican Winter League, but this is still a great sign for Rojas and his development at the plate.

"I felt great. It's a very good league. It's a very competitive league, and it's helped me a lot with my development as a player," he said.

Rojas is projected to get less reps this year, getting moved into a bench role and defensive sub.

But anything the Phillies can get from him at the plate as he continues to develop the offensive side of his game is a plus, and who knows, maybe this is his breakout season with the bat in his hand.

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