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.
Kody Clemens
The case for utilityman Kody Clemens has been an interesting one ever since he joined the Phillies organization in the Gregory Soto trade with the Detroit Tigers during the 2022-23 offseason. Clemens seems to be one of those players who may be too good for the minor leagues, but just not good enough for the majors, at least not yet.
In his past two years with the Phillies organization, Clemens had excelled with Triple-A Lehigh Valley, posting an average above .255 and OPS above .800 while registering an impressive 94 runs scored, 23 doubles, seven triples, 32 home runs, 102 RBI and 13 stolen bases over 130 games. However, whenever he has been up with the Phillies, he has posted just a .225 average and .672 OPS, along with 32 runs scored, 16 doubles, nine home runs and 31 RBI in 90 total games at the big league level.
Although Clemens came up with some key hits down the stretch in 2024 to help the Phillies to victory, his consistency in production has been few and far between. Therefore, if Clemens wants a fair shot at winning a permanent roster spot on the Phillies for the upcoming season, he will need to show the elite production numbers that he had in the minors can be transferable, at least to some extent, to the major league level.
Cal Stevenson
Cal Stevenson became a part of the Phillies organization in May of 2023 when he was claimed off waivers from the San Francisco Giants. However, Stevenson didn’t get a chance to shine in a Phillies uniform until finally this past season when they ran into some injury woes late in the year.
After getting a callup to the big league team in early August, Stevenson ended up appearing in 18 games with the Phillies for the rest of the 2024 season, amassing a modest .250 average and .708 OPS, along with two runs scored and six RBI in 24 total at-bats.
More importantly, he demonstrated his versatility by taking reps in all three outfield positions with the Phillies down the stretch. Stevenson recorded a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in 24 total chances, along with one outfield assist in 16 total games playing in the field.
With the Phillies signing Kepler this offseason, it will move one of Brandon Marsh or Johan Rojas to a reserve role, thus reducing the need for an additional outfielder by one for the upcoming season. As a result, Stevenson will really need to stand out in spring training to land a potential bench role going forward.
Weston Wilson
As one of the surprising standouts, Weston Wilson appeared to be well on his way to securing a permanent role on the Phillies roster at one point in time last season. After all, he became the ninth player in Phillies history to hit for the cycle when he accomplished the feat against the Washington Nationals on Aug. 15. Not only that, he batted a stellar .362 with a 1.040 OPS, along with nine runs scored, three doubles, three home runs and seven RBI in his first 19 games with the Phillies last year.
However, Wilson struggled down the stretch, as he posted just a .195 average and .605 OPS, with just four runs scored, four doubles, zero home runs and three RBI in his final 21 games with Philadelphia. Consequently, he ended up seeing only limited action during the Phillies' postseason run, where he went hitless in three at-bats.
Wilson will need to show more consistency in his production in order for him to win a job for the 2025 season with the Phillies. But with his ability to play almost any position other than catcher, as he solidly demonstrated last year, he may have the upper hand in landing a potential bench utility role going forward.
Taijuan Walker
Finally, we have the disappointing Taijuan Walker as a part of this list. As an established MLB veteran with over 12 years of experience and with an annual salary of $18 million, one wouldn’t have expected such an individual needing to prove themselves ahead of the 2025 season to secure a roster spot.
But because Walker is coming off the worst-ever season in his MLB career, it is an obstacle that he will need to face prior to the start of the upcoming regular season. In an injury-plagued 2024 campaign, Walker struggled immensely with his control and command, leading to an unsettling 3-7 record with a 7.10 ERA and 1.72 WHIP while giving up a whopping 66 earned runs, including 24 home runs on 107 hits in just 83 2/3 innings of work. Whether he pitched in the capacity of a starter or reliever, he was met with the same result.
Walker vowed to work with the Phillies to get his game back on track this offseason, but whether or not he will be successful in doing so will be another story. One thing is for sure: the Phillies’ acquisition of Luzardo this offseason all but rules out Walker’s chances of returning to the rotation this upcoming year.
That leaves him with just a relief role to challenge for, but with a career 4.56 ERA and 1.61 WHIP coming out of the bullpen, despite a small sample size, things are not looking optimistic for the 32-year-old veteran. As a result, Walker will need a huge training camp to reinstil confidence in his team and teammates if he wants to further his career with the Phillies.