The Philadelphia Phillies have had an active 2024-25 offseason to date. Gone from last season are Jeff Hoffman, Carlos Estévez, Austin Hays, Yunior Marte, Luis Ortiz, Tyler Gilbert, Kolby Allard and Spencer Turnbull. In their place, the Phillies have added Jesús Luzardo, Max Kepler, Jordan Romano, Joe Ross and Devin Sweet to their active roster.
As their 2025 roster slowly begins to take shape, there should still be some spots up for grabs as not all of the Phillies’ returning players have secured their place for the upcoming season. Let’s take a look at five Phillies players who still haven’t earned a highly-coveted roster spot for the 2025 season, as of yet.
5 Phillies players who still haven’t earned a roster spot for 2025
Garrett Stubbs
This may come as quite a surprise to some, but veteran catcher Garrett Stubbs might not have a job firmly secured for the upcoming year. Despite his solid defensive play in being the mainstay as the Phillies’ backup catcher for the past three seasons, his overall offensive numbers have often left a lot to be desired. In 141 career games with Philadelphia, Stubbs has posted only a .222 batting average and .628 OPS, along with 52 runs scored, 12 doubles, seven home runs, 39 RBI and nine stolen bases over 433 total plate appearances.
With aging starting catcher J.T. Realmuto likely taking on a lesser workload going forward, the Phillies will need more sustainable offensive production from their backup. Currently in their organization, Philadelphia has a promising catcher named Rafael Marchán, who turned some heads last season.
When Realmuto was out for over a month with a right knee injury and surgery, Marchán had a strong audition for the position when he compiled a .294 batting average and .895 OPS, together with eight runs scored, four doubles, three home runs and six RBI in just 51 at-bats over 17 games played. The Phillies then sent Marchán back down to Triple-A Lehigh Valley upon Realmuto’s return so that he could get sufficient playing time to gear him up to challenge for the upcoming season.
Stubbs has one minor league option remaining, while Marchán is out of options. As a result, unlike previous training camps where Stubbs knew he had the role all sewn up, he will likely need a strong showing in spring training this time around if he wants to hold off Marchán from usurping him from his backup catcher position for 2025.