5 Phillies who still haven’t earned a spot on the 2024 roster

The Philadelphia Phillies are fortunate enough to be one of a few MLB teams that lost only a small handful of players to free agency this offseason. This means the bulk of their contending roster from this season will remain mostly intact entering the 2024 MLB season. However, it doesn't mean those who were a part of the Phillies’ 2023 roster are all guaranteed a spot next year.

Which Phillies players could still be in tough to battle it out next spring for an eventual spot on the Opening Day roster? Here are five candidates who will most likely need to prove their worth to secure a job in 2024.

Jake Cave

Jake Cave had a season that pretty much resembled what he has produced consistently throughout his MLB career, which isn’t a good thing.

Cave has the knack of performing at an elite level in the minors but has never managed to translate that success to the major league level. His 2023 season with the Phillies was no different as he struggled early and often for much of the season with the big league club but somehow prospered once again during his minor league stints with the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

As a part-time player with the Phillies, Cave posted a gaudy .212 batting average with a .620 OPS, 18 runs scored, five home runs, and 21 RBI in 65 games played. However, he provided steady defense whenever he did get the chance to play, committing only two errors along with 2 DRS in 173 chances over 449 innings on the field.

Known primarily for his hitting prowess, Cave will need to convince the Phillies in 2024 that he deserves to be on the roster. He did exactly that last year by putting together an impressive 2023 Spring Training. He'll need to repeat that kind of performance for the upcoming season to lock down a spot.

Johan Rojas

One of the Phillies’ most fascinating prospects, Johan Rojas made his major league debut with the ballclub in 2023 and never looked back.

Called up just after the All-Star break, Rojas went on to suit up for 59 games for the Phillies, hitting a solid .302 with a .771 OPS, 24 runs scored, nine doubles, two triples, two home runs, 23 RBI, and 14 stolen bases. However, one worrisome aspect of his game was the fact that his strikeout-to-walk ratio was greater than 8:1, so he certainly needs to work on his approach and discipline at the plate in the long run.

On the other hand, Rojas provided some much-needed defensive stability in the outfield for the Phillies. Not only did he make all the routine plays, but he recorded some of the highlight-reel variety to bring massive joy to the Phillies’ fans. Overall, Rojas posted an impressive 15 DRS to lead the team by a mile despite joining the ballclub for just the second half of the season. Indeed, there was no doubt his glove was MLB-ready already.

Unfortunately, Rojas was exposed more during the Phillies’ postseason run. His defense remained elite; however, his inexperience at the plate showed. In 13 games, he amassed only four hits in 43 at-bats for a .093 batting average, along with 15 strikeouts. He actually became more of a liability for the team than his defense could make up for.

As a result, with Rojas’ game still in the raw stage, he may still need some growth and development with his bat. Even Dave Dombrowski touched on the subject of Rojas’ uncertainty in a recent Phillies presser, stating, "Our positional players, our infield is basically set … Outfield, we have a little bit of a question just because of a young player [Rojas] that was trying to create some playing time."

So Rojas will need to prove to the team next spring that he belongs with the big league club by showing that he can make the necessary adjustments in his approach at the plate to be successful.

Yunior Marté

With the type of nasty stuff that Yunior Marté possesses, one would expect that he should be among the likes of José Alvarado, Seranthony Domínguez, and Gregory Soto as part of the flamethrowing core in the Phillies bullpen. However, he has been plagued by inconsistency in his control and command in his brief MLB career spanning two seasons, limiting his full effectiveness in the process.

Acquired from the San Francisco Giants during the 2022-23 offseason, Marté put together an up-and-down season with the Phillies in 2023 that saw him end up with multiple stints in the minors. But during his time with the Phillies, he posted an unspectacular 5.03 ERA and 1.63 WHIP, giving up 22 earned runs, including six home runs, 17 walks, and 38 strikeouts in 39 1/3 innings pitched. As a result, he was ultimately left off the postseason roster during the entire Phillies’ playoff run in October.

Marté certainly has the skills and talent to be a solid major leaguer, but until he can harness his potential and provide more consistency in his command, he could be in for a huge uphill climb for a spot on the 2024 roster. Especially with the Phillies possibly looking for more bullpen help this offseason, he must raise his game to another level in Spring Training to have at least a chance to outcompete others and stick with the big league club.

Orion Kerkering

Finally, there’s the late-season rookie sensation Orion Kerkering. After putting up stellar numbers across four minor league levels for the bulk of the 2023 season, Kerkering received the fortunate call-up in late September to join the big league club for the final few games of the season. He impressed so much despite just a three-game cameo appearance that he was included on the Phillies’ postseason roster.

From there, that was where his inexperience began to show on the biggest stage. At first, Kerkering further impressed during his appearances in the NL Wild Card Series against the Miami Marlins and the NLDS against the Atlanta Braves, putting up mainly zeroes across the board.

However, he ran into some trouble against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS. In four appearances, Kerkering gave up six hits, two earned runs, two walks, and four strikeouts in just 2 1/3 innings of work for a 7.71 ERA and 3.43 WHIP. More importantly, he gave up the game-tying run in Game 3 of the NLCS that essentially turned the series around for the Diamondbacks.

Obviously, no one can fault Kerkering, as he was just a rookie put in an unexpected high-leverage situation. Perhaps a little more seasoning for him to handle stressful situations in the future could do him wonders in the long run.

At just a young age of 23 as of Opening Day in 2024, it wouldn’t do any harm for the Phillies to play it safe with Kerkering by giving him a little more growth and developmental time in the minors before promoting him once again to the majors. That would ensure he's as polished and dominant as possible before taking on a full-time, permanent role in the Phillies’ bullpen.

However, if he somehow advances his game enough to prove his doubters wrong out of Spring Training next year, we could see Kerkering as a permanent fixture on their roster sooner than we think.

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