Johan Rojas will win a Gold Glove Award
This prediction isn't bold because there are questions about Johan Rojas' defensive ability. This is more about taking a gamble that Rojas can improve his bat enough to stick in the major leagues for enough of the season to be eligible for the top defensive award.
Rojas has the defensive prowess to easily pick up the golden hardware. He showed off his glove in his 59-game debut in 2023, making hard plays look routine and difficult plays look, well, easy. In his brief MLB time, the 22-year-old amassed 15 defensive runs saved (DRS) in 392 innings over 57 games in the outfield. How does that measure up to the leaders?
Toronto Blue Jays' Daulton Varsho led MLB outfielders with 29 DRS, but it took him 1,280 innings to compile that. Here's the rest of the top six outfield DRS leaderboard from last season:
Player | DRS | Innings |
|---|---|---|
Daulton Varsho | 29 | 1,280.0 |
Fernando Tatis Jr. | 27 | 1,205.1 |
Brenton Doyle | 19 | 1,023.2 |
Kevin Kiermaier | 18 | 981.1 |
Steven Kwan | 16 | 1,352.0 |
Johan Rojas | 15 | 392.0 |
How's that for a measuring stick? There's no question, with a full season, Rojas runs away with the title of the best outfielder in the majors.
But as we know, the youngster has struggled immensely at the plate this spring amid concerns coming into camp about his offensive ability. Even if he starts the season with the big club, there's no guarantee he'll stick when they reevaluate after a month or so. And if he starts the year in the minors, he'll eventually be up patrolling center field at Citizens Bank Park.
We're hoping Rojas spends enough time with the Phillies to win his first of what should be many Gold Gloves Awards. Heck, he could even win the Platinum Glove.
Center field is a premiere position, and the Phillies have a premiere defender for years to come — if he can figure things out at the plate.