Phillies hint at a possible changing of the guard at second base
Bryson Stott is struggling at the plate this season, and the Phillies might start using a better option, especially against left-handed pitching.
Philadelphia Phillies' second baseman Bryson Stott isn’t having the type of season that he’d like. It’s left Phillies fans wondering where the 2023 version of Stott has gone. The 26-year-old had a .280 batting average last year and had a flair for the dramatic. This hasn’t been the case in 2024.
Stott is slashing .235/.312/.345 with a .657 OPS, eight home runs, 12 doubles and 45 RBI. These numbers are all down from a year ago. Particularly, the left-handed hitter is batting just .229 with a .622 OPS against left-handed pitchers this year. He has just three extra-base hits against southpaws.
Phillies hint at a possible changing of the guard at second base amid Bryson Stott's struggles
The Phillies might already have a solution to improve the numbers against lefties at the second base position on their bench. That solution would be right-handed hitter Edmundo Sosa.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson has been playing Sosa more against lefties, whether starting or coming in to pinch hit. If this trend continues through these last two months of the regular season, we could see Sosa as the starting second baseman against left-handed pitchers come playoff time, according to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki.
“I don’t know,” Thomson said about his plans for playing time at second base, per Zolecki. “We’ll see at that time.”
Sosa saw a lot of playing time, primarily at shortstop, when All-Star Trea Turner missed a chunk of time with a hamstring injury. Sosa filled in very well offensively and defensively. The 28-year-old played so well that Thomson was forced to continue to find ways to keep his bat in the lineup when Turner returned from injury.
Sosa is slashing .276/.329/.459 with a .788 OPS, six home runs, 10 doubles, four triples and 26 RBI in 166 fewer at-bats than Stott this season. He’s also hitting lefties a lot better than Stott is to this point in the season. Sosa has a .287 batting average with an .871 OPS and 13 extra-base hits which are all better numbers than Stott against left-handed pitchers.
The Phillies view Stott as an everyday player, and they should. He’s good defensively, and we’ve all seen what he can do offensively. He just needs to figure things out at the plate and get back to what he was doing last season.
It’s something to keep an eye on, even though Thomson hasn’t made a decision at this time.
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