It was J.T. Realmuto’s meniscus surgery that propelled Philadelphia Phillies fans to begin worrying about their team being snakebit by injuries. Five weeks earlier, star shortstop Trea Turner went down with a hamstring pull that pushed him into a careful rehab. Then, a bit over a week before the Phillies announced their star catcher’s procedure, fourth-year left fielder Brandon Marsh tweaked his hamstring and missed nine games.
What would happen if Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola or Ranger Suárez went down? You don’t really replace the talent and experience of Wheeler and Nola, and this year the same is true of Suárez. The Phillies’ first answer this year would be Spencer Turnbull.
Turnbull has been a career 4.31 ERA hurler used principally as a starter. This year, however, he is showing some veteran, savvy impulses. He has done whatever the Phillies have asked, and done well to the tune of a 2.79 ERA in 15 games, including six starts.
He's now 3-0, and clearly, moving to Philly didn’t throw Turnbull off his vibe, or whatever happened to Castellanos and Turner.
4 Phillies role players who are pulling their weight
The question sneaks into the mind: Do the Phillies actually have the plug-in players to maintain their torrid pace if any more starters go down? The only way to tell is to look at what several subs have done at catcher, shortstop, and left field, and consider what would happen if other key players went down.
The bottom line on Phillies replacements is that the team is better suited for problems than it has been many years in the past. For example, should David Dahl and Marsh go lame together, the Phillies have Johan Rojas and Jordan Luplow stashed on the IronPigs roster.
At this point, though, everybody in Philly expects this team to show up, at minimum, in the NL Championship Series. Here are some of the role players who have helped get the team to this point.