Carlos Hernández, RHP
Prior to the start of the regular season, the Phillies made a last-minute waiver claim of Carlos Hernández from the Kansas City Royals. To make room on their 40-man roster for their new addition to their bullpen, Philadelphia designated last year’s brief surprise hero Tyler Phillips for assignment.
Hernández was coming off the best season of his MLB career in 2024. He posted a tidy 3.30 ERA and 129 ERA+ while averaging close to a strikeout per inning. Therefore, the Phillies believed that he would be the perfect fit for the remaining spot in their relief corps heading into the 2025 year.
However, Hernández has been used quite sporadically by Phillies manager Rob Thomson this season. He has appeared in only five games so far, compiling a less-than-stellar 6.00 ERA and 2.17 WHIP, giving up four runs on seven hits with six walks and five strikeouts in just six innings of work. Moreover, Hernández has yielded multiple runs in two of his five outings, while being deployed primarily in low-leverage mop-up duty in each of his past two appearances.
As a result, with the lack of effectiveness despite the minimal usage, the Phillies could better use that roster spot for a more impactful player going forward.
Johan Rojas, OF
Coming up through the minor league system, former top prospect Johan Rojas was expected to be the future of the Phillies’ outfield. There’s no one that would question his speed and defense, as both had been top-notch, MLB-caliber level. What potentially has held him back to some extent from exploding to stardom was whether his bat could translate into offensive productive success at the big league level.
Despite starting off strong with his MLB debut with the Phillies midway through the 2023 season, Rojas has struggled offensively for the most part, scoring just 72 runs with five home runs and 57 RBIs in 188 total games with Philadelphia. Nevertheless, one would expect the more that he played, the greater the chance he could eventually grow his offensive game.
However, Rojas has been mainly the odd man out in the Phillies’ outfield so far this season as Nick Castellanos, Brandon Marsh and Max Kepler have been the de-facto starting three on almost a daily basis. Rojas has had only seven starts this season, appearing in just 10 games with 20 at-bats. In doing so, he has scored only one run with two RBIs and a pair of stolen bases.
To make matters worse, he's making defensive gaffes like this when he gets in the lineup. Oh, and this:
The Giants take the lead on an airmailed throw 😅 pic.twitter.com/HS0ZHEkbHB
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 17, 2025
With the limited amount of playing time, it will be difficult for Rojas to fully develop into the all-around player that the Phillies believe he can be. So if they want to make sure he has the potential to become the next Shane Victorino and not the next Cristian Pache, Rojas would be better served getting regular playing time in the minors to fine-tune his offensive game. That way, the next time he is up with the big league club, he might finally be an impactful player both in the field and at the plate. In doing so, hopefully by that time, Rojas can become a main fixture on the big league roster for good.
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