May 5, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott (5) runs the bases on a two RBI home run against the Athletics during the seventh inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images Bill Streicher
PHILADELPHIA — A night after Bryce Harper suggested that he thinks Bryson Stott should play every day, the latter is absent from the Phillies’ lineup Wednesday.
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With lefty Jeffrey Springs set to toe the rubber for the A’s, Edmundo Sosa is at second base and hitting fifth. Stott — who has homered three times in the last five games — is out of the starting lineup.
Interim manager Don Mattingly explained the decision Wednesday afternoon.
"First of all, you want guys that want to play every day. I'm a lot happier with him wanting to play every day than every time he sees a lefty, feels like it's a day off," Mattingly said.
"But with that, you still look like what we did in Miami with Sos, we gave Trea a day ... there's gonna be days where Stott plays against lefties, but Sos has been really good. To me, we gotta keep everybody involved. And over the course of the year, you do what you do with your guys and at some point, you make a decision saying this is where we're going."
On the surface, it’s not surprising. While they can be adjusted, these lineups are often made multiple days in advance. Sosa is a career .268 batter with a .789 OPS against left-handed pitching. Stott is a .252 hitter with with a .676 OPS against lefties (he does have four hits in 13 at-bats against southpaws this year). On paper, it makes sense to continue to play Sosa over Stott, although you could argue that both could co-exist if Alec Bohm was benched. Mattingly has continued to express confidence in Bohm, though, so it does kind of seem for the time being that Stott would have to cut into Sosa's playing time to be an everyday guy. That could be a tough sell with how good Sosa is at his role.
Still, Harper is the face of the franchise and was pretty adamant following Tuesday’s 9-1 win that he thinks Stott would benefit from playing every day.
"He's an everyday player," Harper said of Stott. "When you have a guy that needs to play every day ... lefty, righty, it don't matter ... he's gonna keep having good at-bats. He's an everyday guy, he always has been. When you take an everyday guy out of the lineup, it's tough for them to kind of get it going each day. I think you guys have seen that over the past couple days. I hope he gets that chance."
Bryce Harper said he hopes Bryson Stott gets the chance to play every day.
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How much, if at all, do comments from the two-time NL MVP factor into whether to give a player like Stott a longer look?
"I appreciate all the information I get from everyone and opinions and all that, but I'm still looking at it from the standpoint of everybody on the bench. I know we're gonna need everybody," Mattingly said.
"...But I don't mind if guys have opinions about what they think or whatever, but still make decisions based on like how do I use Sos? I just can't let him sit here for number of days. If he's not playing today, then what day is he going to play?"
Interestingly, the Phillies do have one of their long-platooned lefties in the lineup tonight against Springs, it’s just not Stott. Brandon Marsh — a career .211 hitter against left-handed pitching — is batting seventh and playing center field.
Granted, the Phillies don’t have a right-handed hitting center field option currently. Marsh is hitting .322 so far this season, so he's in there against the lefty over Justin Crawford, with Adolís Garcia in right field and Felix Reyes in left field.
"Yeah Marsh, just really giving Craw a day." Mattingly said. "You know, you have the migraine [Saturday] in Florida, but he's also on the turf all the other days. It's really choosing between Marsh and Craw today. Marsh obviously has been good."
