This Major Reason Is Why Philadelphia Phillies Won't Use Young Star As Leadoff Man

Heading into Spring Training, it seems like the Philadelphia Phillies are going to be flexible when it comes to how they are going to deploy their lineup on a game-by-game basis.

It was a pretty surprising revelation made by manager Rob Thomson, especially based on how borderline stubborn he's been when it comes to where the players are consistently slotted in the batting order.

When hearing about a possible lineup change, the first thing that comes to mind is Kyle Schwarber finally getting moved out of the leadoff spot and into more of a tradition role that power hitters like him normally hold.

Thomson said that could be the case, with Schwarber potentially getting positioned behind Bryce Harper to offer the superstar more protection.

The next thought is naturally who takes over as leadoff man?

Trea Turner seems like the obvious candidate to become the new top-of-the-order batter, but there are some who think that role might serve Bryson Stott well.

Based on comments made by Thomson, that likely won't happen because of one major reason.

"The thing is that we're so left-handed, and you want Harper and you want Schwarber getting as many at-bats as you can. Now you put Stott in the leadoff spot now you're really left-handed at the top, and it might create a problem, even if you're facing a right-hander, everybody's got three lefties in the 'pen it seems, and they'll just start matching up on you," he said on "The Phillies Show" podcast.

That makes complete sense.

Having three out of the four hitters be left-handed, or even the first three if it was Stott, Harper and Schwarber, would be an easy matchup for any modern bullpen later in the game.

While the young star might be an effective leadoff hitter at some point during his career, he also doesn't have to be at the top of the order to operate in that manner.

If Thomson views his nine spots as something that can be split up, he can have two separate groups of leadoff men, two and three-hole hitters and cleanup guys.

The first batch would be Turner, Harper, Schwarber and Alec Bohm.

Put an unorthodox boom-or-bust option at No. 5 like Max Kepler or Brandon Marsh, then operate in the same manner again with Stott being the leadoff man of the second group in the sixth spot, Nick Castellanos behind him, J.T. Realmuto hitting eighth and either Kepler or Marsh batting ninth as the cleanup man at the bottom of the order before it cycles back to Turner.

Those are things Philadelphia can play with during the spring.

Whatever Thomson decides to do will seemingly be thoroughly vetted, but the one thing he's not considering as of now is utilizing Stott in the leadoff spot.

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