There is a little less than two weeks to go until Opening Day, which means the boys down in Clearwater are starting to kick it into gear.
Take, for example, Zack Wheeler, who abused a vaunted New York Yankees lineup on Monday with three innings of shutout, hit-less ball in which he struck out three batters and walked two. He also unveiled a brand new pitch that he’s never really thrown before—a split-fingered fastball.
I mean, just look at what this thing does.
Keep in mind, this is a NEW pitch. He’s hardly ever thrown this in a game before. As good as he was before now, if we see THAT during the regular season, hoo boy.
The pitching staff is largely performing well this spring, throwing hard, throwing strikes and looking ready for Opening Day. The bats, not so much. As a team, their .238 batting average ranks sixth-lowest, with their .710 OPS at eighth-worst in spring training.
Among their everyday regulars, Trea Turner (.333 average, .860 OPS), Alec Bohm (.294, .862 OPS), Whit Merrifield (.278, 1.000 OPS) and J.T. Realmuto (.294, .862 OPS) are hitting well. All the left-handed bats are struggling. Bryson Stott is batting .250, although his four extra-base hits are good. Bryce Harper his hitting only .250, Kyle Schwarber stands at .083 (with no extra base hits), with Nick Castellanos at .158 and a .632 OPS.
For the most part, spring numbers are meaningless, especially for veterans who are simply trying to get their timing down. However, manager Rob Thomson said before arriving in Clearwater he wanted the team to strive to win games during the final week of the spring schedule as to avoid another slow start in April and May, and we’re getting pretty close to that point.
One camp battle we’re watching is center field, where Johan Rojas is trying to show that his off-season swing changes and bulking up will help him at the plate. So far, the results haven’t been there. He’s just 5-for-31, a .161 batting average, with no walks, seven strikeouts and a lot of very weak contact. Thomson admits Rojas is still out of sync, and while he’s improved on his bunting and his defensive ability remains elite, it’s getting to a point where one has to question the wisdom of allowing him to join the team up north for Opening Day in Philadelphia against the Braves.
On the latest episode of Hittin’ Season, we discussed whether it would be wiser to begin the season with Rojas in Lehigh Valley.
If Rojas heads to the minors for more seasoning, it would allow the Phillies to put Whit Merrifield, Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos in the outfield virtually every day. They lose something defensively in center, but it’s not a bad outfield defense, either.
Over the next 10 days, the Phils will also have some other decisions to make. Will Jake Cave or David Dahl be the left-handed outfielder off the bench? Who will fill out the back of the bullpen? Will Taijuan Walker be healthy enough to start the season in the rotation? If not, who will take his place?
We’re getting down to crunch time in Clearwater.
