Apr 14, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto (10) reacts to a called third strike to end the seventh inning against the San Francisco Giants at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Over the course of a baseball season, there are always going to be times when questions pop up about a player, or a group of players, or an approach to the game.
It's inevitable. Trends indicate one thing. Analytics indicate another. What you are watching on your television screens or in-person at the ballpark could give you a third perspective.
And very often, time is needed to provide answers to those questions. What you see for a few weeks in April does not mean that's what you are going to see in September or October - either positively or negatively.
So, when you see a player struggling - like Brandon Marsh, who is mired in an 0-for-26 slump and found himself taking a seat on the bench for Monday's 10-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants - you need to be given time to figure it out.
Ditto Alec Bohm, who's been dreadful. And Max Kepler, who's been inconsistent. And even your star players like Bryce Harper and Trea Turner - who haven't quite looked like their status so far this season - need time to get the butter churning.
Heck, Kyle Schwarber, who has arguably been the Phillies best offensive player this season, had a rough game against the Giants and decided to spend a good half hour in the batting cage after the game was over to try and prevent bad habits from sneaking in to his approach.
Prior to Monday's game, Phillies manager Rob Thomson said guys usually need 100-150 at bats before you consider making a legitimate change to your roster - which means these guys are all going to get another several weeks before the organization itself decides to push the panic button.
And to be fair, 16 games is still such a small sample. There are stretches when 16 games seems like one guy is an All-Star and another doesn't even look like a Big Leaguer, and then, in almost an instant, it switches.
But that doesn't mean there can't be red flag warnings in a 16-game span, and right now, there are several of them.
We'll start here because this is where the Phillies started. They made it a concern by benching Marsh Monday for Johan Rojas, and then having Thomson say Marsh would likely sit the next couple days as well. Thomson said Marsh is being too hard on himself and it's affecting his play. But what's the alternative?
Rojas continues to be a below average hitter at the plate. He went 0-for-3 on Monday with three strikeouts, two of them with runners in scoring position. One of them even had Thomson second-guessing his own decision to let him bat in one of those spots (we'll get to that later).
The Phillies aren't just an absolute zero so far in centerfield this season, they've been a negative.
The club wanted Marsh to progress to be a reliable, every day guy, but he's probably not that. He's better suited to be the strong side of a platoon, but also is better off at a corner outfield position. The thing is, the Phillies don't have any great options at the moment.
Justin Crawford this season for AAA Lehigh Valley:
40 AB | 13 H | 2 3B | 0 HR | 6 RBI | 2 BB | 5 K | 4 SB | .325/.357/.425
pic.twitter.com/aDpUpKQcnH
Yes, highly-touted prospect Justin Crawford is getting closer. He's at Triple-A Lehigh Valley and has had an encouraging start to his season, but if he were ready to face major league pitching he'd be here already. He's not ready. He needs more time and the Phillies don't want to rush him because they believe he can be a big part of their future.
The other alternative on the 40-man roster is Cal Stevenson, who is fine to call up as a reserve, when needed, but he can't play every day. There are other outfielders not on the 40-man - a veteran like Oscar Mercado could be added, but really isn't a major leaguer. Gabriel Rincones, Jr. Is an intriguing prospect bat, but he can't play centerfield. Weston Wilson is close to returning from his spring training oblique injury, but he too isn't suited to play centerfield.
So the Phillies are kind of stuck, for now, with what they have and have to try and make it work. Having Marsh and Rojas underwhelm isn't ideal. They just need to be passable to help the team. Right now, neither are.
The numbers aren't pretty. The Phillies were 1-for-11 on Monday and are 7-for-54 in their last seven games. To be fair to them, there were a couple productive outs on Monday. Max Kepler hustled out a fielder's choice to get an RBI and score a runner from third in the first inning. Alec Bohm hit a ground ball the other way to get a runner from second to third with less than two outs in the sixth inning. Those count against their total, and actually weren't negatives.
And then there was J.T. Realmuto getting absolutely hosed on a call by home plate umpire Tony Randazzo on a 3-2 pitch that was clearly ball four and ended up being a strikeout that also counted against the Phillies total.
So, there needs to be some perspective.
But that's not enough to say, "don't worry about it," even though that was the tenor from the manager after the game. The Phillies always believe the RISP stat will course correct - and to be fair, it usually does. But that doesn't mean the team isn't prone to droughts like the current one.
Thomson pointed out one positive in the RISP discussion - the team is walking more than it's striking out. This is true. It's an indicator that they are generally not being as over-aggressive as they have in the past and are looking to make solid contact so that they can, at the very least, have those more productive outs that move runners, or gets one home even if an out is recorded.
But there are other at bats that aren't doing the job:
They're having a boy! 👶
Bryce Harper gets the gender reveal for his fourth child thanks to a custom blue bat handed to him by Trea Turner 🥹 pic.twitter.com/m4xP2wGv3U
Rob Thomson said Johan Rojas was “over aggressive” in his at bats tonight.
Rojas was playing center for Brandon Marsh.@973espn @MikeGillShow pic.twitter.com/Ngxhc6RX18
Taijuan Walker had a brutal second inning. It was exacerbated by his own throwing error as he was trying to turn a double play. Had he not had that errant throw to second base, he likely doesn't have the blow up inning that he did, but it threw him off. He missed some spots, gave up some hits, including two homers, and in a flash, the Giants put up a six-spot on him. The thing is, the other four innings he pitched, Walker was very good. In those other four innings, he yielded two hits and had four strikeouts and didn't allow a run.
People are tired of the "one bad inning" excuse in baseball, and rightfully so when it happens repeatedly, but in a vacuum, it was acceptable for this start from Walker as two pitches got away from him after a fielding blunder, and that was it.
But this isn't about Walker. This is about the bullpen.
See, I tell you all that stuff about Walker to set up the fact that when Walker left the game, the Phillies were still within striking distance, and down only two runs. The game was not out of reach.
It got there because Tanner Banks and Jose Ruiz continued to struggle.
Banks gave up a triple and a home run to successive batters that allowed the Giants to stretch their lead to four runs, and Ruiz gave up back-to-back doubles to the same two hitters - Tyler Fitzgerald and Mike Yastrzemski - and then a seeing eye single to Matt Chapman, to allow the lead to balloon to six runs.
Banks has allowed 11 baserunners in eight innings of work this season while Ruiz has allowed 10 in 5 2/3. Those are not pretty numbers.
The Phillies don't seem inclined to use Carlos Hernandez unless it's a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency type of situation. Joe Ross gave them a good inning Monday, but he struggled on the road trip this past weekend. That's half the bullpen that seems unreliable right now.
Jordan Romano has had a couple encouraging appearances in his last two outings after some blow ups to start the season, and the other three guys on the back end - Jose Alvarado, Orion Kerkering and Matt Strahm - have been plusses, but the bullpen seems thin, and the Phillies can't overuse their guys on the back end, or they'll be useless in October. Something needs to change here probably sooner than later.
