February 24, 2025
Vincent Carchietta/Imagn Images
Brandon Marsh still needs to figure out how to hit lefties.
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 in the outfield...
The Phillies' 2025 roster runback is coming with what's been a consistent outfield since the second half of 2023 – in terms of familiarity, not necessarily production.
Right field still belongs to Nick Castellanos, and Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas are likely to trade off time in center again, with Marsh sliding over to left field on days when Rojas gets the center field start.
Offseason signing Max Kepler presents the one new wrinkle in there. He'll be a utility corner outfielder who can either start or come in off the bench depending on where things go.
From when he first got here in 2022 to now, Castellanos has improved as a fielder, but at the plate is where he makes his money. To that end, he slashed an underwhelming .254/.311/.431 with 23 homers, 30 doubles, 4 triples, and 86 runs batted in, but he did find a rhythm in the postseason series against the Mets, though was only one of the couple Phillies' bats to do so as the rest of the club burnt out.
Castellanos notoriously swings freely at the plate. There's been frustration in that for a long time, and almost certainly there will continue to be in that, but as a middle of the order bat with some power, he can cover a lot of plate and make contact – and when he's hot, you know it.
Marsh and Rojas, their strengths so far have been in their gloves and overall athleticism in the field, but their bats are still a work in progress and each for different reasons.
Marsh, who hits from the left side, can handle himself well enough against right-handed pitchers with a .262/.342/.450 slash line against them in 2024, but against lefties, he was still struggling to keep up with his line dipping to .192/.270/.282. It's also worth noting, too, that Marsh was kept pretty protected from lefties last season. He had 386 plate appearances against right-handers, and only 90 against left-handers.
Rojas, a right-handed hitter, is just trying to find his overall footing at the plate as a major leaguer. Upon his call-up from Double-A down the stretch in 2023, he was getting by, but by the NLDS against the Braves, it was clear he was getting overwhelmed, and that persisted through 2024.
Rojas posted a .243/.279/.322 line last season with only three homers and 12 doubles. To his credit, he did steal 25 bases after he did get on base, but getting past that first step was still a struggle. His saving grace the whole time throughout was that his strong defense makes up for his lack of offense, but can that logic hold for another year if Rojas keeps struggling to improve as a hitter?
Kepler is a cost-efficient failsafe of sorts. The 10-year vet was signed to a one-year, $10 million contract back in December after spending his entire career so far with the Minnesota Twins, and while his overall numbers don't exactly jump off the page, he can keep the Phillies treading water if his number gets called.
The left-handed hitting Kepler is a career .237 hitter and slashed .253/.302/.380 with eight homers and 21 doubles across 105 games and 399 plate appearances in 2024. So far at the outset of spring training, he was given a look in left field on Saturday against the Tigers, and was set to get another on Monday against the Pirates before that game was rained out.
Allow Max Kepler to introduce himself 👏 pic.twitter.com/uD5MJfx20S
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) February 22, 2025
The entire outlook of the NL East got a major shakeup when Juan Soto signed with the Mets during the offseason.
Obviously, that's a boost for the Mets, and one the entire division is going to have to deal with this year (and for years to come) after New York rallied their way into the postseason and past the Phillies.
Using each of the five NL East teams' current depth charts as of Monday, and baseball-reference's 2025 slash line projections for each player, here's how the starting outfields within the division compare:
| Team | LF | CF | RF |
| Phillies | Max Kepler .246/.314/.404 | Brandon Marsh .256/.333/.422 | Nick Castellanos .257/.308/.429 |
| Mets | Brandon Nimmo .250/.342/.422 | Tyrone Taylor .240/.291/.423 | Juan Soto .273/.404/.516 |
| Braves | Jurickson Profar .256/.344/.409 | Michael Harris II .286/.331/.470 | Jarred Kelenic .235/.300/.400 |
| Marlins | Kyle Stowers .225/.289/.364 | Dane Myers .251/.314/.400 | Griffin Conine .253/.320/.421 |
| Nationals | James Wood .267/.350/.433 | Jacob Young .257/.321/.361 | Dylan Crews .243/.315/.397 |
Kepler and Castellanos are both well into their 30s, Marsh is 27, and Rojas is 24.
The NL East outfields, like most of the other position groups, generally fall into two camps: established and young-ish to aging (Phillies, Braves, Mets) or very young, green, and rebuilding (Marlins and Nationals).
The Phillies right now are in the former.
Should the Phillies need to reach back deeper into their outfield reserves, Weston Wilson and Cal Stevenson are on the 40-man and that call-up bubble, but serve more as quick stop-gaps or bench bats rather than any solution a club would want to hang their hat on long-term.
Looking into the future, 2022 first-rounder Justin Crawford is the top-ranked outfielder in the Phillies' farm system and is at camp down in Clearwater right now. The 21-year-old slashed .313/.360/.444 with nine homers, 25 doubles, and 32 walks across High-A Jersey Shore and Double-A Reading last year, and is trending to be on the bubble of the major league roster at some point in 2026.
And a single from Justin Crawford 💨 pic.twitter.com/0RQKx91LIR
— Reading Fightin Phils (@ReadingFightins) February 23, 2025
Speedster Dante Nori, the Phils' 2024 first-rounder, isn't far behind Crawford on the Phils' overall 2024 prospect rankings, but has a much longer road ahead as a 20-year-old in Single-A Clearwater.
Griffin Burkholder, the 2024 second-round pick, is in that same camp at Single-A, but at just a bit younger at age 19.
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