Author: Lochlahn March

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Before Otto Kemp started at left field on Saturday, Rob Thomson warned him about his nickname there at Toronto’s TD Ballpark: “Satan’s Corner.”

The Phillies manager has seen many misplays in that part of the outfield, because of a combination of the wind, the sun, and the typically cloudless sky above Dunedin.

“I didn’t want to ask right before I started about why he called it that,” Kemp said. “But I felt pretty comfortable out there.”

Kemp didn’t get a ton of action in the spring opener — a 3-0 Phillies loss to the Blue Jays on Saturday — and caught the only fly ball hit his way in the first inning. But his outfield education this spring will continue to be put to the test, as Kemp gets more innings in left field during Grapefruit League games.

The 26-year-old learned left field on the fly last season in the majors, after being an infielder throughout the minor leagues. The Phillies believe that Kemp could be a platoon bat in left field for Brandon Marsh and want him to get as many reps as possible.

Throughout camp, Kemp has been juggling keeping his infield skills sharp with a lot of additional work on his outfield fundamentals, particularly his footwork. He works with infield coach Bobby Dickerson in the morning, and then works with outfield coach Paco Figueroa for most of the day after that.

“Seeing the ball off the bat and just trying to power shag as much as I can,” Kemp said. “Getting my reads down and getting my first step right. … I feel like I’ve worked a lot already, and it’s been great work so far. So I’m starting to feel really comfortable out there.”

On Saturday, Kemp also shared the outfield with Justin Crawford, who started in center and had a 2-for-3 day at the plate.

“He’s a dynamic player, and he covers a lot of ground, so it’s fun to just be out there,” Kemp said. “And I feel closer to him now being in the outfield, because I’ve been in the infield pretty much the entire time throughout our minor league career. So it’s fun to kind of work a little bit more side-by-side with him, and even learn from him. He’s a great outfielder. He tracks balls down better than I’ve seen a lot of people do.”

Who stood out: Crawford led off the game with a double to center field off Toronto lefty Eric Lauer, after hitting a laser down the right field line that just stayed foul earlier in the plate appearance. He also singled in the fifth inning and made several solid defensive plays.

“Definitely feels good getting the first one in the first at-bat like that,” Crawford said. “So it’s kind of nice to be able to get that early and then just trying to hopefully build off of that.”

Keaton Anthony made a diving stop at first base, and was a part of three double plays turned by the Phillies infield.

On the mound: Bryse Wilson pitched two innings for the Phillies, allowing three hits, a walk, and zero runs.

Zach McCambley, a Rule 5 pick this offseason who is in competition for the final two bullpen spots, sidestepped a walk to Ernie Clement for a scoreless inning. He induced a groundout from Andrés Giménez and a lineout from Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

“He’s got a good arm,” Thomson said of McCambley. “He’s working on cutter today, so it got away from him a little bit. But the slider, he can spin it, the fastball is really good and it plays. I like the kid.”

Max Lazar tossed a scoreless frame. Seth Johnson and Nolan Hoffman each pitched an inning, and both gave up a home run.

Quotable: “He acts like a like a professional. He acts like he deserves to be here,” Thomson said of Crawford.

On deck: The Phillies return to BayCare Ballpark Sunday for their spring home opener against the Pirates (1:05 p.m., NBCSP).

CLEARWATER, Fla. — For the first few drills that infield coach Bobby Dickerson often runs each day in Phillies camp, no gloves are necessary.

The early days of spring training are an opportunity for players to work on fundamentals and reactivate their muscle memory before the 162-game grind. Some of Dickerson’s tactics for his infielders might look unconventional, but there’s a method to the madness.

In one drill, the infielder wears a softball mask, and Dickerson tosses tennis balls at him, which he then “catches” with his face. In another, the infielder uses a paddle to field tennis balls that Dickerson hits toward him with a fungo bat.

Both drills are designed to help with ball security. The idea behind the mask drill is to practice getting a player’s face in the path of the ball. That way, when a glove enters the equation, he will be more likely to watch the ball all the way into it.

“You hear it all the time, ‘Watch the ball in,’ ‘See the ball to catch it.’ ‘Don’t take your eye off the ball,’ all these things,” Dickerson said. “But yet, if you pay attention and you really watch the game like, fortunately, I have for 40 years, and watching every little detail, you’ll see even great players, they’re so good they lose sight of the ball, the last six inches to 10 inches.”

If an infielder forgets to watch a ground ball all the way into his glove, he still could make the play. But once in a while, he also could make a mistake that a bit of concentration may have prevented. Dickerson wants to eliminate those mistakes.

“This is a drill to get them to really focus. You’d be surprised how many times when you first do it to a guy, they don’t realize that their face is that far away from the ball, that they’re not really looking it in, looking at the ball,” he said.

The paddle drill is intended to help with glove action. Dickerson said some infielders have a tendency to retreat their glove at the last second as the ball enters it, which can allow the ball to stay alive.

Using the paddle helps reinforce better habits. Using a tennis ball, which bounces more, helps players work on timing.

“It reinforces good glove presentation,” Dickerson said. “The face of that glove should be looking at the ball the whole time, and the last move to catch it is toward the ball.”

For players who have fielded thousands of ground balls in their lifetime, drills that take them out of their comfort zone can help them get back to basics. Dickerson likes incorporating them early in camp as a way to wake players’ gloves up. He also often tells them to do other activities at home with their nondominant glove hand, like using a fork.

When Dickerson, 60, started incorporating these drills earlier in his career, he had to earn trust from players for some of his seemingly unorthodox instruction methods.

But now, the results speak for themselves. Dickerson credits some of Trea Turner’s defensive improvements at shortstop last year to the work he put in with these drills. Turner went from minus-3 outs above average in 2024 per Statcast to plus-17 in 2025.

“He had a little retreat to his glove. And there would be times where his glove was behind his face,” Dickerson said. “And I think both those drills — both the tennis ball with the paddle glove and the face mask — I think both of those helped him with just some cues to get the ball out in front of his face, see it in. … And his glove hand has woke up a lot in the last year.”

Dickerson recently introduced the drills to 21-year-old Aidan Miller. The shortstop prospect, who is also getting work at third base this spring, said he found the mask drill fun.

“At first, it was hard,” Miller said. “I sucked at it, but I really get the point behind it. It’s all about just keeping your eyes behind the ball, getting your head behind it. So it’s really good in that way.”

Dickerson has been impressed with what he’s seen from Miller.

“They’ve done a lot of great stuff in the minor leagues with him,” Dickerson said. “I can see he’s already ahead of a lot of guys I’ve had at some point that have come to big league camps in my past and were highly touted players, but he’s ahead of that right now, for me. They’ve done a great job. His glove hand works great. His glove presentation is really good. His glove action is really good, and all these things. …

“If I didn’t do the drill, he’d probably play great. And by doing the drill, maybe we can get him to play a little greater, just a little bit.”

Extra bases

Zack Wheeler (thoracic outlet decompression surgery) threw out to 120 feet on flat ground on Wednesday. … Orion Kerkering (hamstring strain) threw 10 pitches from the mound and was “fine,” Rob Thomson said. … Aaron Nola, Jesús Luzardo, and Andrew Painter pitched in live batting practice on Wednesday. … Bryse Wilson will start the Phillies’ Grapefruit League opener against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Four innings before Orion Kerkering’s error sealed the Phillies’ fate in Game 4 of the 2025 National League Division Series, home plate umpire Mark Wegner made a call that may have helped tilt the game.

Cristopher Sánchez’s 2-2 pitch to Alex Call in the seventh, which caught the inside edge of the plate, was called a ball. What could have been a strikeout ultimately became a walk, and Justin Dean, who pinch ran for Call, went on to score the tying run in a game the Los Angeles Dodgers won, 2-1, in 11 innings.

In the quiet clubhouse after the Phillies were eliminated, Sánchez said that Wegner actually apologized to him for missing the strike.

“He knows he missed it,” Sánchez said through a team interpreter. “He knows he missed it because he told me, and he apologized to me. But a lot of pressure, important game, important situation, you can’t miss those things. You can’t miss those calls.”

With the automated ball-strike challenge system arriving to MLB in 2026, it’s possible those impactful misses could be a thing of the past. Under the system, each team starts with two challenges, which can be used by the pitcher, catcher, or batter to challenge a pitch call. If a challenge is unsuccessful, the team loses it.

According to the rules, challenges must be made immediately after the umpire’s call, and no input from the bench or manager is allowed. A team without challenges in extra innings will receive an additional one.

The Phillies piloted the system during spring training last year, and they will use this spring as a chance to get further acclimated.

“I think it will change the game a lot late, just making sure those calls are right in the biggest moments,” shortstop Trea Turner said. “Even if a team challenges and they’re wrong, at least you know the call is right. So I think that’s going to be big later on.”

Some critics of the system think that ABS removes the “human element” of baseball in the umpire’s strike zone.

“It’s kind of now that human element’s back on the players,” Turner said. “So that’s kind of interesting. It’s going to be fun to watch.”

The Phillies will eventually develop a strategy for using ABS as the regular season begins. Some teams only allow catchers to challenge, rather than pitchers, since they have a better vantage point. Teams also might prefer to save their challenges for after a certain inning of the game.

But for the first few weeks of spring training, Phillies manager Rob Thomson will have no rules.

“We need to push them to use it, so that they can learn,” Thomson said. “And as the situations come up, we just talk them through it. ‘This might be a situation where you should use it,’ even if they didn’t. ‘No, maybe that’s not the situation.’ But we still want them to try and get some experience with it.”

Turner said that typically, when he has disagreed with umpires’ calls at the plate and then reviewed the footage later, he is often right about pitches he thought were inside or outside, but has been wrong about pitches high or low.

“I think that’s part of this. You’ve got to know what you’re good at, and where you’re good at,” he said. “I don’t plan on challenging too much, but if I do, I’ll probably be on the corners more so than up and down. And I think some guys are good at some things, and you’re going to have to learn.”

Extra bases

Zack Wheeler threw out to 120 feet for the first time Monday as he continues his rehab from thoracic outlet decompression surgery. Thomson said he did not have a date for when Wheeler will get on a mound, but “he’s getting there.” … Kerkering (mild hamstring strain) is running and doing agility drills and threw on flat ground. The next step is a light bullpen session, possibly on Wednesday, according to Thomson. … Brandon Marsh cut his foot off the field and did not fully participate in the workout, although he did glove work and played catch. “It’s minor,” Thomson said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he was out there hitting [Tuesday].”

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A clean-shaven Nick Castellanos, dressed in a brown Padres hoodie, made his first public comments Sunday after signing a one-year deal with San Diego.

The former Phillies outfielder, who was released by the organization on Thursday, met with the media at the Padres’ spring training complex in Peoria, Ariz. He also spent time taking reps at first base. He is expected to see time there as the Padres already have an All-Star rightfielder in Fernando Tatis Jr.

Castellanos told reporters Sunday he “had a good idea” he would not be back with the Phillies following their exit in the National League Division Series. This winter, the Phillies repeatedly expressed interest in finding a change of scenery for Castellanos after he developed friction with manager Rob Thomson.

Castellanos expressed his excitement about playing for rookie Padres manager Craig Stammen, mentioning Stammen’s 13-year MLB career as a pitcher. Thomson never played in the major leagues.

“He’s a player. He’s done it,” Castellanos said of Stammen. “He’s put on spikes. He’s grinded. He’s felt the feeling of success, and he’s also felt the feeling of when the game doesn’t go your way. There’s a lot of respect in that. I’m excited to do whatever he needs me to do.”

On the Padres, Castellanos is reuniting with childhood friend Manny Machado, a former teammate on the U.S. 18-and-under team.

After his release, Castellanos posted a letter on Instagram thanking members of the organization and explaining the “Miami Incident.” During the eighth inning of a June 16 game in Miami, Castellanos said he brought a beer into the dugout after Thomson replaced him for defensive purposes. He was benched for the following game as punishment.

In his letter, Castellanos wrote that he “will learn from” the incident.

“I think [what] I said I will learn from this is I guess just letting my emotions get the best of me in a moment,” he said Sunday. “Possibly if I see things that frustrate me or I don’t believe are conducive to winning, to speak up instead of letting things just pile up over time and pile up over time and finally when I address it, it’s less emotional.”

Castellanos, who will turn 34 on March 4, batted .250 with 17 homers and 72 RBIs last season. He grades out poorly according to defensive metrics. He posted -12 outs above average and -11 defensive runs saved in 2025, both ranking as the worst among major league right fielders.

A.J. Preller, the Padres’ president of baseball operations, said Sunday that San Diego had done a lot of homework on Castellanos. He is signed to a league minimum contract ($780,000), with the Phillies responsible for the remainder of his $20 million deal.

“He was just super-forthright about the last year in Philly, the incident that was written about,” Preller said. “We talk about it all the time, I make many mistakes in this job. But ultimately, when people own up to those mistakes — and he did that in our call. It’s about giving guys another opportunity. He gets a fresh start here and a fresh opportunity.”

When Castellanos was asked if he wished anything would have ended differently in Philadelphia, he said he wished the Phillies would have won a World Series.

“Winning solves everything,” he said. “The one thing that I wish would’ve ended up different is that we would’ve won.”

Extra bases

The Phillies’ first full-squad workout is scheduled for Monday. … A nonroster invitee, shortstop José Rodriguez, is starting spring a bit behind after suffering a shoulder injury in winter ball. Thomson said that Rodriguez is still able to hit.

CLEARWATER, Fla. — There’s a belt hanging in Jesús Luzardo’s locker at BayCare Ballpark embroidered with the words “SINK OR SWIM.”

It’s a motto of the Phillies 28-year-old left-hander, one that is also written on his glove. He adopted it after the 2023 season during his time with the Miami Marlins, and really leaned into it the following year after he suffered a season-ending back injury.

For him, it embodies how it feels to be a pitcher, alone on the mound.

“There’s really only one option. It’s either you make it, or you don’t,” Luzardo said. “It’s something I like to live by.”

The motto remains a guiding light as Luzardo enters a pivotal season, his last one before reaching free agency.

The Phillies’ rotation, an organizational strength for the past several years, has some question marks in 2026. The Phillies are optimistic about Zack Wheeler’s progress from thoracic surgery, but he is unlikely to be ready for Opening Day. Andrew Painter, a longtime friend of Luzardo’s, has the chance to earn a spot, but he has yet to throw a pitch in a major league game.

After the free agency departure of fellow lefty Ranger Suárez, Luzardo joins Cristopher Sánchez as two anchors in the Phillies’ rotation to start the season.

Coming off a career-high 183 ⅔ innings in 2025, Luzardo didn’t change much about his winter training. He prioritized rest and some lower-intensity workouts early in the offseason, but things were mostly business as usual.

“I feel now, just as good, or better than I did last year,” Luzardo said.

But he did come to camp with a potential new trick up his sleeve. Last season, in his first spring with the Phillies, Luzardo began toying with a sweeper. It ultimately became one of his best weapons, and he threw it 31% of the time. The pitch had a 43.7% whiff rate, and opponents hit just .178 against it.

This year, instead of adding another pitch to his mix of five, he is focusing on refining his changeup.

“Just kind of trying to fine-tune it, and see if I can maybe get a little more swing-and-miss, or just kind of give guys a different look,” Luzardo said. “… Not that my changeup last year was bad, but it was maybe not elite, and I want to be as elite as possible.”

The process started about two months ago as a collaborative effort with pitching coach Caleb Cotham and the coaches Luzardo works with at home in South Florida. Luzardo’s changeup was his third-most used pitch in 2025, behind his four-seam and sweeper. He primarily threw it to right-handed batters, and hitters had a .224 batting average against it.

“He’s always trying to find that edge and the stretch to ‘What’s next? What can I do to get a little better?’” Cotham said. “And I think it’s important. That’s why guys like him stay in pace with the league, because the league’s always getting better. Hitters are always getting better.”

Luzardo said he “didn’t want to give much away” about the new-look pitch, but it does involve a change in grip. The idea is to make the changeup more consistent in how it flies.

Cotham visited Luzardo once during the offseason, but they mostly communicated via texts and videos. Watching Luzardo in a bullpen session earlier this week, Cotham was impressed with the results.

“It’s as good as I’ve seen it,” Cotham said. “Hitters will be the true test.”

Luzardo’s commitment to finding ways to reinvent himself as a pitcher reminds Cotham of Wheeler, who added a splitter in 2024 and a sweeper the year before.

“You have to evolve. You have to keep seeing what you’re capable of,” Cotham said. “That’s the coolest part of being part of his journey, and being his coach, [is] being part of that collaborative process.”

Extra bases

Right-hander Zach McCambley, a Phillies Rule 5 pick in the December draft, threw a live batting practice session Saturday. “I like him,” Thomson said of the 26-year-old from the Marlins organization who has been a reliever the past three seasons after being drafted in the third round in 2020. “He can really spin his slider, what you call the sweeper. Really good pitch. There’s some depth there. He’s got a good fastball. It’s going to be mid-90s [mph]. Commands the baseball. It’s a good pickup.” … Catcher René Pinto has reported to camp after being delayed by visa issues in Venezuela.