How Phillies' Platoons Will Affect Their In-Game Decision-Making

The Phillies will face Nate Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom and Mackenzie Gore on opening weekend against the Texas Rangers, two righties and a lefty.

It means that Bryson Stott will be at second base and Brandon Marsh will be in left field for the first two games, with Edmundo Sosa and Otto Kemp replacing them for Game 3 against Gore.

That is how the Phillies plan to utilize those four players this season — starting Stott and Marsh against righties and Sosa and Kemp vs. lefties.

Stott and Marsh are a combined 1-for-16 against Gore. Sosa is 4-for-16 with a home run, and Kemp went 0-for-2 last season.

Best laid plans ...

Plenty of teams try to optimize a position or two this way, not exposing certain hitters' weaknesses by having them face same-handed pitching all year. And it makes sense when you have a couple of right-handed bats capable of doing so much damage vs. lefties.

Sosa hit .318/.362/.533 last season against them and had 19 extra-base hits in just 121 plate appearances vs. LHP in 2024.

Kemp experienced a lot of success against lefties in the minor leagues, hitting .310 with a .467 OBP in 2024 at Triple A and .284 with a .440 OBP the year before.

Teams and fans often look at platoons through the rosiest of lenses, almost expecting the best-case scenarios to play out since the position players will mostly be facing pitchers the numbers say they should hit. But the other part of platooning is that you don't get everyday at-bats. Whit Merrifield, for example, arrived in Philadelphia in 2024 with a .289 career batting average against lefties. He played sparingly and hit just .206 that year against southpaws, losing his job with the Phillies by July. Facing only righties didn't help Max Kepler much, either.

The difference with Sosa, though, is that he is used to coming off the bench with more sporadic at-bats. He's been a supersub since 2021. He should be more capable of filling the role.

The bench makeup

The Phillies composed their bench with these two platoons in mind. Utilityman Dylan Moore is on the Opening Day roster, with the Phils preferring defensive versatility in their final bench spot rather than strictly offense.

It makes sense when you start to dive into in-game decisions. Take Sunday, for example, the Phillies' third game of the season. Sosa and Kemp will start against Gore, who may last only five innings. If he exits for a righty and Stott and Marsh are due up, the Phillies could pinch-hit for both, losing two players from their bench. This is why another utilityman is necessary. If the Phillies rostered, say, Bryan De La Cruz over Moore, in that scenario, they'd be down to just a backup catcher and corner outfielder on their bench.

Moore triggered the opt-out in his minor-league contract last Thursday and was signed to a major-league deal on Saturday.

Make-or-break year?

This is a massive season for both Stott and Marsh. The only two newcomers to the Phillies' everyday lineup are Adolis Garcia and Justin Crawford, which means they must rely on many of their incumbents to raise the offense's ceiling.

Stott hit .294/.368/.487 last season after the All-Star break. He hit .234/.303/.333 prior.

Marsh hit .302 with an .881 OPS in the second half. He hit .259 with a .697 OPS in the first half.

Both have been thoroughly productive over half-seasons but haven't put it together for six full months and will likely need to do so to take this team where it wants to go. They aren't young players anymore. They're both 28 and set for free agency after 2027. Their performance matters not only for the Phillies but for their baseball futures, because platoon players are paid differently in free agency than everyday players.