Predicting the Phillies Lineup for the 2022 Season

With the Philadelphia Phillies season coming to a rapid close, our staff here at Inside the Phillies is doing an exercise. On Wednesday, we tried to take a crack at what next year's starting rotation would look like. There was one interesting name in there that could propel the Phillies from "almost playoff contenders" to "October threat."

Now, it's time to try and predict what the starting lineup will look like on the position player side of the house. Instead of trying to predict where each player will hit in the order, we will just predict position by position.

Let's get started!

Catcher: J.T. Realmuto

This has to be one of the easiest of this entire prediction piece. Despite Realmuto's slight down year at the plate in 2021, which he has hit for .266/.347/.439, he is still one of the best catchers in baseball.

J.T. Realmuto is worth 4.5 WAR so far this season and he trails only Buster Posey at the catcher's position. He's also been playing with an injured shoulder, but due to the nature of the playoff race has continued to play.

He is a lock for 2022.

First Base: Rhys Hoskins

Sometimes you don't know what you have until you don't have it. That is exactly what happened this season with the Phillies when they lost Hoskins to a groin injury that needed surgery.

Having Hoskins as protection behind Harper not only drastically helps Harper, but it changes the look of this lineup completely. At times in 2021, Hoskins essentially carried the offense when no one else would or could.

He'll be back next season and Philadelphia will be thankful he is.

Second Base: Jean Segura

Not much to say when hitting .292 is a "down" year, but here we are. His defense and bat have been a welcome sight in a lineup that, at times, have lacked both.

Third Base: Freddy Galvis

This is where we start to go off script. Yes, there is Alec Bohm, but his defensive issues are too large to ignore when playing the hot corner. Instead, Galvis will handle the third base duties and his defense will come with a huge sigh of relief. Besides, we have other plans for Bohm anyways.

Shortstop: Corey Seager

Didi Gregorius cannot and likely will not be the answer moving forward. He could be an excellent bench bat, but a team simply cannot afford to platoon such an important position. Instead, the Phillies will sign one of the most consistent shortstops in the historic free agent class this winter in Seager.

Seager won't come cheap, but if Philadelphia finally does want to exceed the luxury tax threshold, they should have their eyes planted firmly on him.

The addition of Seager will immediately help fix three holes on the field, by moving Galvis to third and Bohm to left field. Yep, we gave it away.

Left Field: Alec Bohm

Clearly Bohm's infield defense and lack of power in 2021 was so concerning to the team they sent him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to figure things out. There have been plenty of rumors that have suggested Bohm could play left field going forward.

It's hard to see Andrew McCutchen coming back for 2022, unless he is willing to take a massive pay cut. His splits against righties and lefties is concerning, too put it lightly. That leaves the door wide open for Bohm to walk through.

After an offseason of taking reps in left field, he should get the nod to be the 2022 Opening Day left fielder in this scenario.

Center Field: Odúbel Herrera

One of Herrera's biggest supporters appears to be manager Joe Girardi, so that could likely mean he is back in Philadelphia next season. There were also few viable options this season in terms of who could man the position and it landed with Herrera by default.

However, Herrera has been more than serviceable this season slashing .264/.316/.425 and is fifth amongst Phillies position players with 1.3 WAR. The team does have a buyout option for 2022, but with Herrera slated to make $11.5 million next season, it seems unlikely they would pay the $2.5 million buyout.

Right Field: Bryce Harper

We end this piece with the easiest answer of them all: Bryce Harper. The presumptive NL MVP who will be entering his fourth year of a 13-year contract will patrol right field in Citizens Bank Park in 2022 and for many more after that.

Make sure to follow Inside the Phillies on Facebook and Twitter!