February 26, 2025
Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports
Edmundo Sosa celebrates a home run with Brandon Marsh back in 2024.
The pressure is on. After two straight playoff implosions in 2023 and 2024 — following a World Series loss in 2022 — the Phillies are running it back and are hoping to prove that their highly paid and highly talented roster has what it takes to be champions.
Philly will enter 2025 with the fourth-best World Series odds, behind the juggernaut Dodgers, Yankees and division rival Braves. They are tied with another rival in the Mets (at +1100 via FanDuel).
The NL East will be a fierce division this summer, but the Phillies believe they have what it takes to defend that title.
As we do every season, as players work out and play exhibition games in Clearwater, we'll check in and tell you the prognosis and expectations for every position.
Today's look is at the likely Phillies' bench...
If you're on an MLB team's bench, chances are you aren't good enough to start. Which helps to explain, at least in part, the lack of production or reliability from the Phillies' bench players over the last few seasons.
But it's also an extremely difficult job. Pinch hitting requires a hitter to sit on the bench for two hours or more, doing nothing but watching, and then quickly be ready to hit in what is likely a clutch situation. So too, is being able to play just one or two days a week, the situation many backups find themselves in.
There's a reason why the Phillies aren't automatically promoting their most talented players to backup their starters this season — Justin Crawford and Aidan Miller will be better served playing every day in the minors as they improve and learn to be professional athletes.
As a result, chances are when Rob Thomson calls for a substitution during a game, it isn't going to work out too well. Last season's bench saw Kody Clemens, Weston Wilson, Brandon Marsh, Edmundo Sosa and Whit Merrifield get the most chances as subs.
Here's a look at how those Phillies hitters (and others) performed last season when they were added to games as substitutes at some point during a game:
| Category | Stat | MLB rank |
| AB | 170 | 23rd |
| BA, OBP | .200, .281 | 23rd |
| HR | 5 | 15th |
| RBI | 21 | 23rd |
| Pinch hitter BA | .144 | 29th |
Even more depressing, Phillies pinch hitters slashed .144/.250/.233 — yes, they had a lower slugging percentage than on base percentage, a rarity — thanks to one pinch lone hit homer (from David Dahl) and six total RBI (worst in the majors) all season.
The Phillies' regulars were among the best in the sport in 2024, helping lead the team to 95 wins with the fourth best batting average and on base rate of any starting unit. Their back ups, substitutes and pinch hitters were about as bad as it gets.
We know for certain that Sosa will return after a very solid 2024 season that saw him start 68 times all over the infield with a .257/.313/.422 slash line. He plays solid defense, has occasional power and is currently learning to play in the outfield in Clearwater as well, to potentially expand his role.
We also know that either Johan Rojas or Marsh, depending on the day, will be a bench player for the Phillies. The duo is likely to platoon, with Marsh seeing righty-pitchers most often and Rojas left-handers.
J.T. Realmuto's backup catcher will be either veteran Garrett Stubbs or homegrown talent Rafael Marchán, in what appears to be a pretty open competition you can read more about here.
The fourth and final spot is wide open, with half a dozen players in the mix ranging from Clemens, to Christian Arroyo — we wrote at length about the position battle here.
Due to some of the reasons we mentioned earlier, it's hard to really place a player with a lot of future potential in a bench role. If you disqualify players who are going to start in 2025, there are just eight position players on the 40-man roster (two of them fighting for the backup catcher spot, and one of them is Sosa).
There is not a ton of depth in case of a serious injury to one of the Phillies' aging position players, which is a potential worry — but also something that contending teams don't typically worry about. There is enough flexility among the 26-man roster as it is comprised that the team could move players around to cover different spots on defense.
Even still, a few players in spring training who received non-roster invites are worth keeping an eye on.
Gabriel Rincones Jr., hit a homer already this spring and while he hits from the left side, he does seem suited for a bench outfielder role after years as a well-touted prospect. Oscar Mercado is a veteran righty outfielder who was in the mix for Rookie of the Year a few seasons ago. Rodolfo Castro is still just 25 and in the mold of a Sosa-type player who could be a fill in at every position if a utilityman is needed.
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