5 Phillies players fighting for their futures heading into the 2024 season
It's still early, but which Phillies players have their future on the line entering 2024?
As we head into the 2024 MLB season, the Philadelphia Phillies have the bulk of their players back from last year to make another legitimate run to the World Series. For the majority of them, they have their roles and spots on the team more or less secured for the upcoming season. But for a few of the players, 2024 could be their make-or-break season with the ballclub depending on how they perform.
Here, we take a look at five players who are fighting for their futures heading into the 2024 season.
Yunior Marte
Yunior Marte was acquired by the Phillies from the San Francisco Giants during the 2022-23 offseason. With a fearsome fastball that constantly registers in the high 90s along with a perfect complementary slider in the 80s, Marte has all the tools to be a strong, effective short-relief option out of the bullpen.
On top of that, looking at his advanced statistical metrics, his fastball velocity ranks in the 95th percentile in the league. He has also shown the ability to generate low exit velocities, high ground ball rates and whiff rates above the 80th percentile in the past couple of seasons. It has been quite surprising that he hasn’t fostered as much success as expected in the majors.
In 2023 with the Phillies, Marte pitched to a less-than-stellar 5.03 ERA with a 1.63 WHIP, giving up 22 earned runs, including six home runs, 17 walks, and 38 strikeouts in just 39 1/3 innings in 40 appearances. His ineffectiveness led him to spend some time in the minors, where he performed much better, with an impressive 1.80 ERA and 1.05 WHIP, with 24 strikeouts in 20 innings.
On the plus side, Marte has gotten off to a strong start this spring, having given up just two hits, two walks, and no runs in four appearances. With hopefuls Orion Kerkering and Michael Rucker entering the bullpen picture for 2024, along with incumbents Andrew Bellatti and Connor Brogdon looking to regain their spots on the major league roster, Marte will certainly have his work cut out for him if he wants to be in the Phillies’ plans this season and potentially even beyond that.
Connor Brogdon
Prior to the 2023 season, Connor Brogdon had been a main staple in the Phillies’ bullpen since 2020. He was able to consistently put up a sub-4.00 ERA and sub-1.20 WHIP each year, providing reliability whenever taking the mound in the later innings. However, Brogdon lost his usual steadiness in 2023, struggling with his command at various times during the season. In the end, he was demoted to the minors following a string of poor outings in late May and early June and remained there for the rest of the season.
In total, Brogdon pitched to a 4.03 ERA with a 1.45 WHIP, giving up 13 earned runs, including five home runs, 13 walks, and 26 strikeouts in just 29 innings. When he was sent to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, he continued his struggles with a 5.46 ERA and 1.36 WHIP, giving up 17 earned runs with 16 walks and 34 strikeouts in 28 innings over 26 appearances. Things got so bad that he was even put on the Development List for over a week in early August to help him reset. That more or less justified the reason why he wasn’t called back up to the big leagues for the remainder of 2023.
Similar to Marte's situation, Brogdon will be up against fierce competition in the Phillies’ system for a role in the bullpen for the upcoming season and beyond. With his prior success in his previous seasons with the Phillies, Brogdon appears to have the upper hand over his counterparts entering 2024.
However, his inconsistency with his command has reared its ugly head once again this spring. In four games, he has given up one run on three hits with four walks and just two strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings. Hopefully, it's just a small sample size and he will eventually turn things around. But if his troubles with his command continue to plague him, his roster spot with the Phillies in the long run could be in serious jeopardy.
Johan Rojas
It may seem cruel to put Johan Rojas in the category of fighting for his future already. After all, his arrival in the big leagues just happened last year when he made his debut following the All-Star break. Rojas actually fared quite well, as he appeared to hold his own both offensively and defensively.
At the plate, he batted .302 with a .771 OPS, 24 runs scored, nine doubles, two triples, two home runs, 23 RBI, and 14 stolen bases in 59 games. More impressive was his work in the field as Rojas provided elite defense in the outfield, leading the team with 15 DRS while making spectacular plays almost every game.
However, it was during the postseason that Rojas’ suspect hitting became exposed. In total, he compiled an underwhelming .093 batting average and .276 OPS, with just four hits along with a whopping 15 strikeouts in 43 at-bats over 13 playoff games. As a result, he needs to seriously work on his plate discipline and hitting mechanics to be a successful hitter when facing MLB pitching.
But with the recent offseason addition of Whit Merrifield, along with the progressive development of both top outfield prospects in the Phillies’ system in Justin Crawford and Gabriel Rincones Jr., Rojas may actually be under some pressure this year to deliver in order to secure a permanent spot in the Phillies’ outfield for now and the future.
If he cannot prove that his bat is MLB-ready, Merrifield can easily take his spot in the outfield this season, and subsequently, the eventual arrivals of Crawford and Rincones would push him out of the spot in the following years.
More than two weeks into spring training, Rojas has worked hard at producing quality at-bats, per The Philadelphia Inquirer's Scott Lauber, but has yet to show drastic improvement. He has a .152 average, .394 OPS, two runs scored, four RBI, no walks and seven strikeouts in 10 games. Hopefully, he will be able to find his way before his playing time and future role with the team becomes significantly affected.
Jake Cave
The Phillies claimed Jake Cave off waivers last offseason from the Baltimore Orioles with hopes that he could provide some power off the bench as a part-time player. He ended up putting together a strong spring with a stellar .462 average and 1.327 OPS, with 11 runs scored, four doubles, three triples, three home runs, and 14 RBI in just 18 games, solidifying his spot on the team for the 2023 season.
However, Cave was never able to replicate the offensive success that he had during training camp. He posted similar offensive numbers during the regular season with 18 runs scored, eight doubles, five home runs and 21 RBI, but unfortunately it was over 65 games played this time. In addition, he hit only .212 with a .620 OPS, along with a strikeout rate of 27.1 percent.
Signed to a one-year, $1 million contract for the 2024 season and already at the age of 31, Cave needs to show the Phillies that he is worthy of a reserve position on the team by providing more impact offensively than he did the past year. In seven games so far in spring training, he is hitting a strong .368, but with only two runs scored, one double, and two RBI to show for it.
Cave definitely needs to pick up the pace to beat out his competition. Otherwise, with hopefuls Weston Wilson, Kody Clemens, Darick Hall, David Dahl, and others vying for a potential spot on the bench this coming season, this could be Cave’s final chance to impress if he wants to permanently stick with the winning ballclub.
Cristian Pache
Despite being the top-ranked prospect in the Atlanta Braves system as recently as 2020 and 2021, Cristian Pache has been quite the disappointment thus far in his MLB tenure. Not only has he not reached his full potential that was expected of him, he has also failed to secure a full-time gig in the majors now entering his fifth season in the league.
The Phillies picked him up last season from the Oakland Athletics via trade, with hopes he could provide some value defensively in the outfield, along with solid contributions at the plate when given the opportunity.
However, Pache ended up having an injury-plagued season, missing significant chunks of 2023 with a knee injury in late April and elbow irritation in July resulting from a previous injury. In total, he posted a sub-par .238 average with a .736 OPS, along with 12 runs scored, seven doubles, two home runs, and 11 RBI in just 48 games. He fared better defensively by putting up 5 DRS along with a .985 fielding percentage and two outfield assists in 44 total games in the field.
In terms of overall offensive production, Pache lags behind Cave and especially Merrifield in that regard, whereas on defense, Rojas has more or less taken over as the defensive general in the outfield. As a result, since he appears to be a redundancy, Pache will need to give the Phillies a strong reason to keep him rostered for the upcoming season and beyond.
So far this spring, he is off to a solid start with a .267 average and .980 OPS, with three runs scored, two home runs and three RBI in just six games played. If Pache manages to keep that up heading into the season, he should be able to provide decent value as the club’s fourth outfielder. Otherwise, if he falters, his job could be on the line as the season progresses or perhaps even before the start of the season.
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