Opinion: Bryson Stott Must Play Every Day

After placing shortstop Didi Gregorius on the 10-day injured list with a left knee sprain, the Philadelphia Phillies made the choice to once again call upon their top prospect, infielder Bryson Stott.

Typically, this would serve as good news to all Phillies fans; Stott is a promising young player who fills multiple positions of need for the Phillies. He has a skillset that lends itself to eventually settle in the leadoff spot, features decent gap and home run power and is a talented fielder up the middle.

Yet, it remains to be seen whether or not he'll be given consistent playing time this go-around.

Manager Joe Girardi, who is already under heavy scrutiny from the Phillies fanbase, has a habit of sticking with players he's "comfortable" with, instead of giving young, promising players the bulk of everyday playing time. Johan Camargo, who has found his way into 20 of the Phillies' 26 contests this year, has become a particular favorite of the Phillies manager.

Feels a bit like deja vu, no? Well, that's because the Phillies faithful have already witnessed this problem on multiple occasions over Girardi's tenure.

Alec Bohm was a bit of an enigma in the year 2021. His bat showed almost none of the prowess it possessed in the shortened season of 2020, and his defense was abhorrent. It was, admittedly, difficult to watch the then 24-year-old struggle so viciously on a daily basis.

Typically, when an exceptionally talented, Major League-proven player struggles, it's the manager's job to assess that struggle, but continue to allow the player to work through their issues.

But not Girardi.

Instead, the manager passed Bohm's at-bats over to players like Ronald Torreyes and Freddy Galvis, neither of whom remained with the club through the following year. This nearsighted decision led to the duo of Torreyes (318) and Galvis (107) seeing a combined 425 at-bats over the course of the 2021 season. They would hit a unified .238, with an OPS barely scratching the .650 mark.

Conversely, Bohm, even in the midst of his worst struggles, would finish with a similar .247 average, alongside a mirrored OPS of .647, but with far less opportunity (380 at-bats).

Were the third baseman to be given more consistent playing time, who's to say that the turnaround he is currently experiencing in 2022 wouldn't have occurred earlier?

The Phillies can not afford to make this same mistake twice.

Now, this is not to say Johan Camargo hasn't been a very useful player in 2022. His defense (at third base especially) speaks for itself, and he is a far more talented hitter than the likes of Ronald Torreyes. That said, he has significantly cooled off from a scorching start, slashing just .250/.297/.383 across 60 at-bats in 2022. That is the slash line of a defensive replacement, not an everyday shortstop.

Upon recalling Stott, Girardi must allow him to work through his struggles at the Major League level.

Stott tore the cover off of the baseball in Triple-A, hitting .333 with two home runs, alongside a .986 OPS. He is obviously ready to thrive in the majors, and simply needs consistent time to work through his weaknesses.

Have a day, Bryson Stott … 2 for 2 with a walk, 3 runs scored, 3 RBIs and this two-run bomb over the bullpen pic.twitter.com/ANlKtGrVAq
— Mitch Rupert (@Mitch_Rupert) May 6, 2022

And yet, surely if Stott doesn't shock the world during the short span that Gregorius is out, he'll likely face demotion in favor of an insufferably inferior player.

Not only would demoting Stott in favor of Gregorius serve as another significant blow to the youngster's confidence, but it would grade out as a horrible baseball move.

At a glance, Gregorius' stats may not look all that bad; well, that can really only be said for his batting average. The rest looks utterly ghastly.

In fact, all of Gregorius' peripheral stats, outside of his expected batting average, range anywhere from the bottom 18th to the bottom FIRST percentile among all major leaguers. He is having a horrid 2022 season, and has only managed to stay afloat thanks to some good batted ball luck, which is sure to level out.

It is nigh impossible to be worse than Gregorius has been peripherally, so why not favor the youth and future of your organization over a clear downgrade?

One can only hope that the Phillies manager will make the right call in this scenario. Past experience says that, barring some significant shift, we'll likely see a lot of Camargo over the next few weeks, and Gregorius will be back sooner rather than never.

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