CLEARWATER, Fla. — It was only fitting that Wednesday’s exhibition game started with a ball hit to Phillies center fielder Johan Rojas. Team Canada’s designated hitter, Edouard Julien, drove one to right-center field. Rojas made a diving catch on the warning track dirt.
The ball continued to find him. Two at-bats later, Josh Naylor flied out to center field. At the top of the second inning, Tyler O’Neill did the same.
Rojas hit a double that bounced over the wall in the bottom of the fourth inning to score Bryson Stott.
On Tuesday, news broke that Rojas reportedly had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug. He chose to appeal his 80-game suspension, which was why he was back playing on Wednesday afternoon.
Until a decision is made on Rojas’s appeal, he will continue to train at the Phillies’ complex and appear in Grapefruit League games.
Team Canada went on to a 5-3 victory over the Phillies.
Who stood out
Jhoan Duran made his first appearance of the spring in the fourth inning. He pitched one inning, allowing no hits, runs or walks, with one strikeout.
His velocity was down (his splitter averaged 95 mph and his four-seam fastball 97.7 mph) but the closer wasn’t concerned.
“Everything is great right now,” he said when asked if he felt healthy. “Today is my first outing and I feel fantastic. So it’s good.”
Duran said he lost some weight during the offseason, likely because he was sick. He started throwing two weeks into the offseason, stopped for a few weeks because he was sick, and then picked up again.
Duran’s first outing of the spring last year came on Feb. 22. Manager Rob Thomson said this one came a bit later because of the illness, and because he “had a little touch of something earlier in camp.”
But Thomson, like Duran, said the closer is healthy.
Duran threw a few split-changeups on Wednesday — a pitch he said he hasn’t thrown since the minor leagues — and said he might bring it back during the regular season.
He said the grip of his split-changeup is a little different from his regular splitter.
“It’s just a different look,” Thomson said of the split-change. “Just something for the other hitters to think about.”
Aaron Nola, shown during a game on Friday, pitched three shutout innings and had four strikeouts against Team Canada on Wednesday.
On the mound
Aaron Nola made his last start before departing for the World Baseball Classic, where he will compete for Team Italy. He is expected to make his first start for Italy on March 11.
Nola pitched three innings, allowing one hit with four strikeouts. His velocity ticked up a bit, which he attributed to a slight tweak in his offseason routine.
“Probably starting earlier in the offseason,” he said. “Gave my arm and body time to ease into it, ease into throwing and long toss. I’m able to kind of rear back and throw a little bit harder right now, rather than previous spring trainings. My body feels really good, my arm feels really good.”
Duran followed Nola in the fourth. Reliever Tanner Banks pitched a clean inning in the fifth with two strikeouts, and Jonathan Bowlan followed in the sixth.
The reliever, who was acquired from the Royals in the Matt Strahm trade, struggled immediately, loading the bases by allowing two singles and a walk.
Abraham Toro hit a three-run double to tie the game at 3.
Right-hander Aaron Combs came in after Bowlan, and allowed an RBI single to score Toro and give Canada a 4-3 lead. He pitched one inning, with one hit and one hit batsman.
Quotable
“That was great,” Nola said of Rojas’ catch. “I thought the ball was gone. I saw the wind blowing a little bit. That was a good catch.”
On deck
The Phillies will play the Boston Red Sox at BayCare Ballpark on Thursday (1:05 p.m., NBCSP+).
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Johan Rojas walked to his locker in the Phillies clubhouse just before 11:30 a.m., with his duffel bag slumped over his shoulder.
On a normal day, this would not be notable, but Wednesday was hardly a normal day. Less than 24 hours earlier, news broke that Rojas had reportedly tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
A source told The Inquirer that the center fielder would appeal the 80-game suspension, which would explain why he was back with his team the following morning. No ruling has been made on Rojas’s suspension.
Until there is one, he will continue to work out at the Phillies’ spring training complex and play in Grapefruit League games. The team didn’t waste any time in getting him back in the lineup.
Rojas batted seventh in Wednesday’s exhibition game against Team Canada. When asked pregame if he had a comment on his reported appeal or potential suspension, Rojas said he had to get ready for the game.
When asked if he’d comment after the game, he declined.
The ball found him on the first pitch. In the top of the first inning, Canada DH Edouard Julien drove an Aaron Nola fastball to deep right center field.
Rojas got a good jump, sprinting toward the wall and diving on the dirt to make the first out of the game. He finished his day going 1-for-2 with an RBI after knocking a hard-hit double to center field in the fourth.
After the game, manager Rob Thomson reiterated that the only information he has about Rojas’ status is what he’s read through reports.
“I don’t know anything about the appeal,” he said. “We know nothing about … I said yesterday, we read the reports, but nobody from Major League Baseball has told us anything.”
It’s unclear how long the appeal process will take. The ruling will be decided by a neutral arbitrator, per the Major League Basic Agreement.
Johan Rojas might be a third-string center fielder who forces you to play with an eight-man batting order, but he is a man without an obvious replacement right now. The Phillies are going to need to figure one out soon, assuming the formality of the 25-year-old’s pending appeal of an 80-game performance-enhancing drug suspension that an Inquirer source says he faces.
Bryan De La Cruz? The 29-year-old nonroster invitee offers enough of a profile at the plate to suspend disbelief. But he hasn’t played center field in the big leagues since 2023, and even then, he did it in only seven games.
Dylan Moore? He played a couple of innings in center field last season but has only 105 in a seven-year big league career as a utility man. The 33-year-old nonroster invitee would make some sense as the third option in any given game. But it’s a stretch to think he’d make sense as a long-term sub.
Or, there is Pedro León, a 27-year-old who went 2-for-20 with 10 strikeouts in 2024 for the Astros. Houston waived him in November.
There aren’t any other options on the spring training roster, unless you count Edmundo Sosa in an emergency.
There is a reason the Phillies traded for Harrison Bader last July. It’s the same reason they were open to re-signing him early in an offseason that ended with him settling for a two-year, $20.5 million contract with the Giants. The Phillies are thin on center fielders and right-handed hitters, and even thinner on guys with both skill sets.
It’s a shame the Bader situation played out as it did. The Phillies’ offseason would look a lot different if they’d been able to sign him to something like a two-year, $25 million extension before he exercised his end of a mutual opt-out. There would have been more than enough at-bats to go around between righties Bader and Adolis García and lefties Brandon Marsh and Justin Crawford, as well as a better combination of depth and platoon ability. And if Bader came at the price of García going elsewhere, no worries. You can get a right-handed-hitting corner outfielder easier than you can a right-handed-hitting center fielder, and a lot of them cost less than García’s $10 million for the same amount of cross-your-fingers-and-pray.
Alas, here we are. It would betray a misunderstanding of the inner workings of the business of baseball to interpret Bader’s contract with the Giants as an unwillingness to match by the Phillies. They moved on and he moved on, and nobody would be thinking twice if the Mets didn’t offer an outlandish contract to Bo Bichette. None of that matters now.
The Phillies don’t have a choice but to scour the earth for someone who at least looks like a center fielder when you squint. Marsh has never played in more than 135 games in a big league season, which is 135 more than Crawford has ever played. That’s not a comfortable situation. The only unsigned free agent of note is Manuel Margot, who would leave everyone pining for Rojas.
Keep in mind, Rojas appeared in 71 games last season. At the start of that season, the organization’s depth chart looked pretty much as it does now. If you’d forgotten Rojas got that much playing time, it’s because he didn’t offer a lot to remember him by.
Johan Rojas’ .569 OPS last season ranked among the bottom 10% of MLB hitters with at least 170 plate appearances.
His .569 OPS ranked among the bottom 10% of MLB hitters with at least 170 plate appearances. He is one of only three center fielders out of 46 total to have an OPS lower than .600 while garnering at least 500 plate appearances over the last two seasons. His average exit velocity ranks second to last.
That would lead to an obvious question, if we hadn’t already covered the answer. Why did Rojas get so many at-bats? Because the Phillies didn’t have any better options. Sure, some wishful thinking factored in, as did an overemphasis on center-field defense. The math is a little more complicated than subtracting the surplus doubles a better defender robs from the surplus doubles a better hitter would have given you at the plate. But the fundamental logic holds, and Rojas failed it. Reality is, the Phillies were a better team last season with Rojas on the bench and Marsh in center field, even against lefties.
You can argue that they are no worse off for losing Rojas. It might be true, to a certain extent. Moore and De La Cruz could be as good as it gets unless someone shakes loose on cutdown day (local product Chas McCormick is in camp with the Cubs on a minor league contract). If finding a center fielder was easy, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
Phillies outfielder Johan Rojas tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug and is facing an 80-game suspension by Major League Baseball, a league source confirmed Tuesday.
Rojas will appeal the test result, the source said.
Phillies officials said Tuesday that MLB hasn’t contacted the team about Rojas’ status, although manager Rob Thomson said he was aware of reporter Wilber Sánchez’s post over the weekend that Rojas had failed a drug test.
Rojas was at the Phillies’ spring training complex on Tuesday but did not speak with the media. Officials from MLB, the MLB Players’ Association, and Rojas’ agent, Rafa Nieves, declined to comment.
Rojas was scheduled to play for the Dominican Republic in the upcoming World Baseball Classic but didn’t join the team in Miami over the weekend. D.R. general manager Nelson Cruz announced Monday that Rojas withdrew from the tournament for “personal reasons,” adding that the outfielder could explain himself at a later time.
The Phillies’ outfield depth would be diminished by a suspension to Rojas. Brandon Marsh, rookie Justin Crawford, and Adolis García are locked into outfield spots along with Otto Kemp, who hasn’t been a full-time outfielder.
Rojas was vying with veteran utility man Dylan Moore and fellow outfielders Pedro León and Bryan De La Cruz for the final spot on the bench. Rojas and León are on the 40-man roster. Moore and De La Cruz are nonroster invitees to camp, although Moore is due a $100,000 retention bonus to go to the minors if the Phillies don’t add him to the 26-man roster five days before opening day.
Rojas, 25, is regarded as an elite defender in center field but hasn’t produced much at the plate since an impressive 59-game debut as a rookie in 2023. He batted .224 with a .569 OPS in 172 plate appearances last season and got optioned to triple A midway through the year.
Among 316 players with at least 500 plate appearances since the beginning of the 2024 season, Rojas ranks 308th with a .591 OPS.
It’s unclear whether Rojas will continue to play in Grapefruit League games during his appeal.
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — The Phillies’ 3-1 Grapefruit League loss to the Rays on Tuesday afternoon was very much a spring training affair. Their defense was sloppy. Rafael Marchán failed to block a wild pitch in the first inning. He and shortstop Erick Brito made throwing errors, and Brandon Marsh misplayed a ball in right field.
But there were some positives — Marsh’s health among them. After suffering a minor hand injury while sliding during practice in late February, he returned to Grapefruit League play on Tuesday.
Marsh went 1-for-3 with a strikeout, but most importantly, did not feel pain in his hand when he was swinging.
“It felt good,” Marsh said of his hand. “Today was great. Health-wise, felt good. Performance-wise, some a little bit better [than others], but the whole goal was to get through today without feeling it, and we did. So that’s perfect.”
Justin Crawford, who was playing in his sixth game of the spring, roped a hard-hit single to left field in the first inning that came off his bat at 100.2 mph. He’s slashing .316/.350/.474 in 19 at-bats.
Designated hitter José Rodríguez put the Phillies on the board with an RBI single to center field in the fifth. The Phillies combined for eight hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts.
Phillies center fielder Justin Crawford singles during the first inning on Tuesday.
Who stood out
Infielder Aroon Escobar showed some pop in the fifth, hitting a ground-rule double that traveled 328 feet and left his bat at 110 mph. It was Escobar’s second hit of the spring (and the hardest hit of the day).
On the mound
Right-handed pitcher Alan Rangel made the start. He threw 43 pitches in 1⅔ innings, 23 of which were strikes. He allowed two runs (one earned) on one hit with two walks.
Righty Jack Dallas entered in relief of Rangel and allowed one hit. Reliever Lou Trivino entered in the third, pitching one frame, allowing one unearned run on one hit with one walk.
Rule 5 pick Zach McCambley, who would need to be added to the opening day roster or be placed on waivers, made his fourth appearance of the spring. He threw a 1-2-3 inning with one strikeout, lowering his spring ERA to 2.25. Seth Johnson followed that with a 1-2-3 innings of his own in the fifth.
He returned for the sixth and retired his next two batters on a flyout and a strikeout before being replaced by Nolan Hoffman. Hoffman pitched 1⅓ innings and allowed two hits with one strikeout.
Andrew Walling pitched the eighth, recording three strikeouts with one hit.
Manager Rob Thomson was particularly impressed with the last four.
“Johnson has pitched extremely well his last two or three times out,” Thomson said. “Hoffman has been good throughout. It was good to see McCambley using the cutter and the slider and throwing strikes.
“And Walling had a rough outing his last time out and bounced back and really threw the ball well.”
On deck
The Phillies will play an exhibition game against Team Canada at BayCare Ballpark on Wednesday (1:05 p.m., NBCSP+).
Phillippe Aumont retired from baseball in the summer of 2020 after the pandemic paused the major league season. Once a Phillies prospect, Aumont had been a professional since he was 18. He grew up in Canada, dedicated his life to baseball, and pitched in 46 big-league games with the Phillies before deciding it was finally time to leave the game. He needed to find something else.
So he became a farmer, purchasing 220 acres of land in his hometown in Quebec. And the first animals he acquired were pigs.
“I played for the IronPigs for the longest of times, and I remember we used to always get those bacon slices,” said the 37-year-old Aumont, who spent five summers in Allentown with the Phils’ triple A team. “Now, I was like, ‘Well, I can probably produce pig meat for the IronPigs’. That would be hilarious. I used to wear my IronPigs gear to go and wrestle the pigs and move them.”
Even as a farmer 400 miles from the Lehigh Valley, Aumont was reminded of baseball. Shaping his new identity was not as easy as purchasing land.
“To be honest, it took longer than I thought to get comfortable,” Aumont said. “You’re stepping away from the game because you’re like, ‘This is enough. There’s plenty of stuff in the world to do. I have a family now. I want to do other things.’ But the baseball player inside never dies. It’s fun, but it also feels like a curse. You can’t let him go. It was you your whole life. But you have to let him go. It took me a while.”
Phillippe Aumont (middle) pitched for Team Canada during the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Aumont hangs his old Phillies jerseys in a closet and still has his baseball cards. His baseball life is finally behind him, but his arm is not yet done. He’ll pitch this month in the World Baseball Classic for Team Canada, which plays Wednesday in an exhibition against the Phillies in Clearwater, Fla. Aumont is scheduled to pitch against the Phils.
Aumont last pitched there in 2015 as a Phillie struggling to hold onto a dream. He’ll return this week with a new perspective.
“Let’s say you see Daniel Radcliffe and you’re going to be like, ‘Holy s—. That’s Harry Potter.’ But, no, it’s Daniel Radcliffe,” Aumont said. “It was always, ‘Hey, Phillippe. He’s the guy who plays for the Phillies.’ There was no human to it. At some point, you’re like, ‘OK, I need to make a separation, and I need to find an identity.’”
Phillippe Aumont wrapped up his career on a minor league deal with the Blue Jays in 2020.
Leaving the game
Aumont spent spring training in 2020 with the Toronto Blue Jays on a minor league deal after spending the previous season with an independent-league team in Ottawa. It seemed like one last shot to keep his career churning. The pandemic closed spring training, and Aumont returned to Canada.
His first daughter was born the previous summer, making the baseball lifestyle — “hotels, planes, trains, buses, big cities,” Aumont said — harder to fathom. So when a farm in his hometown of Gatineau, Quebec, hit the market that summer, Aumont and his wife, Frédérique, pounced. They already had planned to buy a ranch, as Frédérique grew up riding horses. Buying the farm accelerated their plans. Aumont told the Blue Jays he was finished.
“I loved baseball, but I didn’t love it as much as I loved my kid,” Aumont said. “I just felt like there was a shift in priority back then, and I made a decision based on that. No regrets. Sometimes, I’m like, ‘Damn, I could still be playing. I could’ve turned it around somewhere else and kept the career going.’ But, no. I own up to my decisions, and I think they were the best at the time.”
The Aumonts named their farm La Ferme Pure Alternative, and their introduction seemed easy, as Aumont said prices were low during the pandemic.
“It was, like, more expensive to buy water than gas back then,” Aumont said.
But that soon changed. The expenses of farming caused the couple to shift plans. They no longer grow crops, instead leasing land to farmers who do. The Aumonts raise chickens, rabbits, and pigs and sell meat. They also have horses.
“I was raised on real meat. I’m going to die on real meat,” Aumont said. “We’re going to try to produce clean food as much as we can for a decent amount of money. We’re not trying to sell filet mignon for 75 bucks a pound. We’re slowly doing the things that we want on the farm, and hopefully it grows to something bigger and nice when we do retire, or if we ever retire. Or we just hand it to our daughters.”
Former Phillies pitcher Phillippe Aumont at home on his farm in Quebec.
The farm is just 30 minutes from Ottawa, which Aumont said is close enough to be near a major city but far enough to feel secluded. He no longer plays baseball or keeps his arm loose, but there’s a facility near his farm where he worked out a few weeks before joining Team Canada. This month’s World Baseball Classic is Aumont’s second WBC with the Canadian team since he retired. He knows how to get ready.
Aumont keeps up with the farm while working an administrative job with the Canadian government and finishing schoolwork to become a building inspector. He’s no longer just a baseball player.
“It’s fun,” Aumont said. “I get to take that guy with me once again, and then I come back home, put him back in the box, and move on to being a husband, dad, and friend.
“It’s our lives. It’s how we wake up everyday. When people come here, they’re like, ‘Wow, it’s quiet.’ This is our daily life. It was definitely a culture shock when we first came. Now I just wake up to the sound of the rooster.”
Phillippe Aumont made 46 appearances with the Phillies over parts of four seasons from 2012-15.
Finding peace
Aumont ended spring training in 2015 by packing his belongings in a red duffel bag and walking across the Phillies’ complex to the minor league camp. Six years earlier, he was acquired as part of the return in the trade that sent Cliff Lee to Seattle. But he could not crack the opening day roster for a team that lost 99 games. It was difficult.
He’s been to Clearwater as a fan since that afternoon — “I sat in center field,” he said — but has not yet pitched there in a game since his time with the Phillies ended. He could do that on Wednesday with Team Canada.
“I’m actually already nervous about it,” Aumont said. “I do have butterflies. I can’t hide it. It’s going to be emotional. I don’t know if I’ll be happy or sad. I don’t know.”
He hasn’t been back to Allentown, either, but would love to visit the Chipotle near the ballpark where he said he “definitely paid a few months’ rent.” And then maybe he could get back to Philadelphia, where his final big league appearance came in June 2015 with a painful four-inning start against St. Louis. Aumont became a free agent a few days later and spent the next five seasons bouncing around the minor leagues.
“Philly will always have a special place in my heart. It’s always a place where it’ll be warm to my heart,” Aumont said. “I do hope I get to go back and enjoy it from the outside with the family, and my daughters can see where I was playing one day. I’m looking forward to going back one day just as a fan. I’m not looking to get attention or anything. I just would love to go back, feel those memories, and go back down memory lane and enjoy it once again.”
And if Aumont ever makes it back to Philadelphia, he’ll be more than just a baseball player this time.
“We’re just doing the small things,” Aumont said. “We enjoy peace. We get our bits of society interaction when we want to. Other than that, we stay on the farm and raise our two daughters and produce our own meat. Then I play baseball when they need an old 37-year-old retired guy.”
NEW YORK — Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar faces a 162-game suspension by Major League Baseball for a possible second failed test for a performance-enhancing drug, a person familiar with the issue told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the process, first reported by ESPN, was ongoing.
Profar intends to ask the players’ association to file a grievance to appeal any discipline to baseball’s independent arbitrator, Martin F, Scheinman, a second person familiar with the process said, also on condition of anonymity, because no announcement had been made.
Because this would be Profar’s second infraction, an appeal would take place after a suspension was announced.
An All-Star in 2024, Profar was suspended for 80 games last March 31 following a positive test for Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG), a hormone that helps production of testosterone. He issued a statement then saying: “I would never willingly take a banned substance, but I take full responsibility and accept MLB’s decision.”
His agent, Dan Lozano, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Profar homered in his return from suspension on July 2 and finished with a .245 average, 14 homers, 43 RBIs and a .787 OPS in 80 games. He batted .280 in 2024, when he set career highs with 24 homers, 85 RBIs and an .839 OPS.
Profar said at the start of spring training that he had sports hernia surgery in November, requiring a six-week recovery time. He has appeared in four spring training games this year, going 3 for 10 with three RBIs.
A native of Curaçao, Profar had been set to play for the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic.
Under the suspension, he would be ineligible for the postseason.
Profar would lose his $15 million salary for this year as part of a $42 million, three-year contract through 2027. He lost half his $12 million salary in 2025 due to the initial suspension.
Four players have been suspended previously this year for positive tests, including former Phillies outfielder Max Kepler for 80 games under the major league program following a positive test for Epitrenbolone.
Following the offseason signing of left fielder Mike Yastrzemski to a $23 million, two-year deal, Profar had been targeted to be the Braves’ primary designated hitter.
When catcher Sean Murphy returns from a hip injury, perhaps in May, 2025 NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin could fill in at DH when not behind the plate.
With Yastrzemski, Michael Harris and Ronald Acuña Jr. in the outfield, Eli White could be a DH option. The Braves also are without projected starting shortstop Ha-seong Kim due to a finger injury. Mauricio Dubon, expected to serve a utility role, is scheduled to open the season as the starting shortstop.
The loss of Profar could create an opportunity for Dominic Smith, who signed a minor league deal on Feb. 17.
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Kyle Schwarber was scheduled to talk with a Japanese television crew after batting practice on Feb. 22, just as the men’s hockey gold medal game at the Olympics went into overtime.
How’s that for rotten timing?
So, Schwarber did the interview from the Phillies’ dugout, where he could keep one eye on the game on the new 3,200-square foot video board in right field at BayCare Ballpark. And when Jack Hughes scored the golden goal for the Americans, well, Schwarber stopped in mid-answer and reacted as you might expect.
Schwarber conceded that he doesn’t watch much hockey in the offseason at home in Ohio. But he was transfixed by the Olympics, which featured NHL players and elevated the profile of the sport among even casual fans.
Over the next two weeks, Schwarber will play in the closest thing baseball has to an Olympic competition. He will join Phillies teammates Bryce Harper and reliever Brad Keller at the World Baseball Classic on the most talented U.S. roster ever assembled.
Before he reported to Team USA, Schwarber made a return appearance on Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast,to discuss the WBC, the Phillies’ upcoming season, and more.
Here are a few excerpts from the conversation. Watch the full interview below and subscribe to the Phillies Extra podcaston Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Q: I’ll start by congratulating you on a new baby, a new contract, a run to the national championship for Indiana football — during which you were the honorary captain of the Peach Bowl. Did anyone have a better offseason than you?
A: It was a great offseason. … It all started with the contract and re-signing here in Philadelphia. And obviously that’s a stressful time, just with all the unknowns. But I’m happy that we were able to find the deal for everyone. And I’m happy that this is where we wanted to be. And we got that all said and done. Then [our] baby girl came in on the 14th [of December] … Then Peach Bowl, captain, [Indiana] gave me the call for that. And that was like, I’m just going to stand there and not do anything and don’t get in the way. And it was a great experience. And then, obviously, a national championship, too. It was amazing. And then getting to represent your country for Team USA, and again, in the World Baseball Classic. It’s just been such a great offseason, and just looking forward to what this year has in store for everyone.
Q: You’ve been fortunate to make the playoffs every year of your career, except for one. When you’re with a team that has that expectation, do you ever have to remind yourself, or maybe remind your teammates to enjoy the ride?
A: You’re talking my language. You’re hitting the sweet spot. The beautiful thing about our game is that nothing’s ever given. And I always say my worst fear is packing up on, say, Sept. 30. It’s after Game 162, and you’re packing things up to go home. I’ve done it once and it’s just not fun, and I don’t want to do that ever again. I want to still feel like I’m giving everything I can to winning. That’s why I came back here. There’s a lot of other different reasons, but there’s also the reason that this team and our ownership and everything like that, front office, coaching staff, we’re all pushing for that same goal. And that is obviously, one, making the postseason, and two, holding up that trophy at the end of the year. Those are goals, right?
But there are the steps along the way. There is that, like we say, the quote-unquote, the journey, right? The whole process to it. There’s goals to that. It’s winning the division. If you don’t win the division, we’re finding our way into the postseason trying to weather any kind of storm that could come in a year. Because that’s the thing, is that every year presents a new challenge, and it’s never the same circumstances. …
Kyle Schwarber’s spring training is on pause as he and other Phillies leave to play in the World Baseball Classic.
Q: One narrative in Philadelphia is that the Phillies are “running it back,” so to speak. You can agree or disagree with that. But I wonder, internally, how do you avoid the staleness that might set in from just being together as a core for so many years? And does the addition of some young guys like Justin Crawford, Andrew Painter, and eventually Aidan Miller help keep things fresh?
A: I don’t think it’s really ever going to be stale, just for the fact of … we have fun. We poke fun at each other all the time. It’s never like we’re walking in the clubhouse and we’re dreading walking in. That’s not the environment we have … If you go ask pretty much everyone in the clubhouse who’s been there for a while, I guarantee you that everyone’s looking forward to walking into the clubhouse doors and going, ‘What are we going to hear today? What are we going to talk about today? What’s the fun going to be poked at?’ … That’s kind of the environment that we have, and we enjoy that. … It was funny, we were talking about it the other day in the clubhouse, we just missed sitting down in the chairs and just talking B.S. to each other and laughing at each other. It is what it is. It’s never going to get stale. It’s not like we’re hypersensitive to that by any means.
And I think the youth stuff, you need that in teams. I think that’s very valuable to teams. … We were all the young guy somewhere else. [Aaron Nola] was the young guy here. We were all those young guys who came up and you’re trying to make your mark, and you need that on your team. Because there’s the whole [contractual] control part, but also just for these guys to be able to take their next steps and to keep submitting their name here in Philadelphia. That’s what we need. And we need them to not feel like they’re going to have to get very accustomed to the big league locker room. That’s why we’re trying to always be intermingling with everyone in our clubhouse in spring training.
You see it every year — injuries happen, and someone’s coming up, and you need them, whenever that person walks through the door, we need them to be them. They need to be the best versions of themselves. They’re getting called up for a reason, or they’re going to break [camp] with us for a reason. They’re good. They’re really good players. And I need them. Everyone needs them to be really good players.
… It’s fun getting to watch [Justin] Crawford take at-bats in camp. You get to see [Aidan] Miller here in the clubhouse, and you see [Andrew] Painter throwing his lives [bullpen sessions] and seeing how that’s been coming along. Excited to see how the two years after Tommy John [surgery] happens for him. He’s just got to go out there and get his feet wet again and compete. And now he’s making adjustments to get back to a couple different things, which I think is going to be exciting because he’s got the stuff. Crawford’s got the stuff. I’m excited to see what Miller is going to get to have. It’s fun to see these kids come up, and you want them to have instant success right away. And also realize, too, that we have still a lot of really good young players that are on our team still who have been playing here for a while.
Kyle Schwarber celebrates with third base coach Dino Ebel after hitting a three-run home run against Great Britain in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Q: Why do you think the interest in participating in the WBC was so high this time? It’s been difficult for Team USA in the past, especially on the pitching side, to recruit the best players. Did you get a sense that guys who maybe said no in the past were more eager to do it this time?
A: It’s a great question, because I only know me personally that when I got that call back 2023 it was an instant yes. And I know that there’s been a lot of buzz around the pitchers that we have got committed to play for [Team] USA. I know that there’s probably way more details than just someone wanting to say, ‘Yes, I’m in.’ I think that’s been written about and talked about. But also, too, I’m sure there’s even more things. But I think it’s a great team. Another stacked lineup. The lineup that we had out there in 2023 was an amazing lineup full of studs, MVPs, All-Stars, everything. And this lineup that we’re going to have, obviously, MVPs, All-Stars, and I think the cool thing is that there’s kind of a little bit more youth on it, too. We’re starting to see some of these younger faces that could really have those chances to be the future MVPs, or future perennial All-Stars, are going to be on this team as well. So I’m just excited about it.
When you look at it, from top to bottom, it’s such a deep roster, and I don’t know how you’re going to construct the lineup and how you’re going to decide who’s coming out of the bullpen and things like that. Or who’s starting what game. But I just know that I’m excited to get out there, get with these guys, and I’m excited to watch, I’m excited to see how guys prepare, hear the conversations, talk different things and baseball stuff, and try to take in some knowledge. This is what this is about, too. It’s obviously a great opportunity for all of us to go out there and compete and compete for our country, but also a great opportunity to be around a lot of great players and hear their experiences and hear how they prepare and other things too. So it’s going to be a great time.
There will be a lot of change on TV for Major League Baseball this season, but Jimmy Rollins isn’t going anywhere.
The former Phillies star and 2007 National League MVP signed a deal to remain at TNT as part of the network’s studio show. Terms of his new contract weren’t announced, but it’s a “multi-year extension” that will keep him on TV the next few years, the network said.
It will be Rollins’ 11th season with TNT, though his broadcasting career began with Fox during the 2013 World Series, while he was still with the Phillies. He also tried his hand at calling a few games on NBC Sports Philadelphia alongside Tom McCarthy and John Kruk but has grown to love the back-and-forth of the studio.
Rounding out the cast is host Lauren Shehadi and three-time All-Star Curtis Granderson.
TNT also re-signed game analyst Jeff Francoeur, who spent most of his career with the Atlanta Braves but played for the Phillies in 2015.
During the regular season, TNT airs nonexclusive national games on Tuesday nights, which means when the Phillies are on the network, they’re also airing locally on NBC Sports Philadelphia. This season, TNT also will broadcast the American League divisional and championship series.
TBS will air two Phillies games during the first half of the season — April 14 against the Chicago Cubs, and June 2 against the San Diego Padres. Both will be blacked out in the Philly TV market.
NBC bringing Bob Costas back for MLB games, too
Bob Costas will return to NBC for its coverage of MLB this season.
Costas told The Inquirer the plan is for him to host about two-thirds of the pregame shows leading up to NBC’s coverage of Sunday Night Baseball, beginning March 26 when the Arizona Diamondbacks take on the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“NBC sees me as the bridge between the last time they had baseball. … To just kind of attach the old to the new,” Costas said, not counting the one season they streamed Sunday morning games on Peacock, which also is returning this season.
While Costas is known for opening monologues and a thoughtful analysis of sports that goes beyond the field, he won’t have much time most nights.
“The average Sunday night is going to be a tight pregame, only maybe 12 minutes of content,” Costas said. “But we wanted it to be worthwhile content.”
Costas last called an MLB game in 2024, when he did play-by-play for the American League Divisional Series between the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals on TNT. After the series, he announced he was retiring as an announcer, ending a four-decade career calling MLB games.
During the series, Costas received a lot of criticism on social media, not unusual for baseball announcers during national broadcasts. Looking back, he called his performance “OK” but not “as good as the decades prior.”
“I was able to do baseball play-by-play pretty darn well for a very long time,” Costas said. “I just couldn’t consistently reach my own standard.”
“But I can do everything else as well,” Costas added. “The interviews, the essays, the commentaries, the hosting. I can do that as well as I ever did. I think.”
The Phillies’ first appearance on Sunday Night Baseball will be April 19, but that game will be a Peacock exclusive because NBC will be airing the NBA playoffs on Sunday nights through the end of May.
The Phillies’ first game on NBC (other than opening day locally on NBC10) will be June 21 against the New York Mets.
Netflix, ESPN round out MLB TV changes
While ESPN will no longer broadcast Sunday Night Baseball or the wild-card games (which also were nabbed by NBC), it still will air 30 MLB games during the regular season, mostly during the week.
ESPN’s schedule includes the second-half opener between the Phillies and Mets on June 16 and the MLB Little League Classic on Aug. 23 in Williamsport, Pa.
Netflix will stream MLB’s season opener between the Yankees and San Francisco Giants on March 25. It also will stream this year’s Home Run Derby on July 13 at Citizens Bank Park, and the annual Field of Dreams game between the Phillies and Minnesota Twins on Aug. 13 in Dyersville, Iowa.
The only person who takes more undeserved blame than manager Rob Thomson for the shortcomings of the Phillies quarter-billion-dollar lineup is Alec Bohm.
Entering his sixth season, Bohm, the third overall pick in the 2018 draft, is largely considered a semi-bust, especially in the frustrated Philadelphia region. Optically, it makes sense: He’s 6-foot-5, sculpted and wide, and was expected to be a basher coming out of Wichita State who eventually would migrate from third base to first. That hasn’t happened, but he’s nowhere near a bust.
With the exception of a sophomore slump in 2021, Bohm has been a competent major league third baseman. That’s something of a miracle in itself, since the Phillies rushed him to the majors for the COVID-shortened 2020 season with zero experience in triple A.
Has Bohm been the homegrown stud hitter Phillies fans have craved since the days of Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Ryan Howard? No. But he hasn’t been Domonic Brown or Maikel Franco, either.
He’s been a pretty good player on some very good teams surrounded by a bunch of star hitters who couldn’t get the job done. Bohm catches shrapnel for their shortcomings more so than his own, and some folks can’t wait to get rid of him. That was never more evident this winter.
Phillies fans relished rumors that projected Bo Bichette’s arrival as a free agent, not the least because it would mean a corresponding departure by Bohm. He no longer would have a starting spot at third base with the arrival of Bichette, who would have switched from shortstop to third.
Phillies fans thought signing Bo Bichette would force Alec Bohm out, but Bichette opted to sign with the Mets.
But the Bichette deal fell through at the 11th hour. That left the Phillies with Bohm and free-agent gamble Adolis García as first options to bat in the No. 4 hole behind presumptive third hitter Bryce Harper.
In Philly, all hope collapsed, because Bohm has proved himself unfit for that particular job … right?
Well, maybe.
But that’s not the point.
The point is, the Phillies spent more than $200 million so that Bohm wouldn’t have to do the job at all.
Wasted money
As The Inquirer reported last week, no everyday player with an OPS over .800 last season scored fewer runs than Harper’s 72. Harper’s OPS of .844 last season was his lowest in nine years, in part because he saw fewer strikes than any other everyday player. Harper was largely unprotected, and, when he reported to spring training, he let everyone know he wasn’t happy about any of it.
“I think it makes a huge impact,” he said. “I think whoever’s in that four spot is gonna have a big job to do, depending on who’s hitting three or who’s hitting two.”
That big job was never supposed to be Bohm’s job, so to paint the situation as a failure by Bohm is wildly unfair, considering what any realistic expectations might have been for a player surrounded by a constellation of supposed stars.
In 2022, in what would be Bohm’s second full season, the Phillies signed right-handed hitter Nick Castellanos, mainly to protect Harper. Castellanos utterly failed. His OPS from 2022-25 while batting fourth was .705, .853, .645, and .651. Castellanos didn’t hit behind Harper every time, but he hit behind him most of the time. He made $80 million.
J.T. Realmuto (right) has largely struggled protecting Bryce Harper in the lineup over the past four seasons.
When Castellanos didn’t hit fourth, Realmuto often did. He went .953 in 2022, had only 34 plate appearances in 2023 (.458)/, then went .635 in 2024 and .683 in 2025. He made $95.5 million in those four seasons.
In 2023, it occasionally fell to Bohm to hit fourth. He produced .711, .769, and .571 OPS results in the past three years. He made $12.4 million.
Despite Bohm’s poor numbers in 2025, Harper actually was his most productive when Bohm hit behind him, according to MLB.com.
When the Phillies signed Castellanos to a five-year, $100 million contract in 2022, he was projected to be the cleanup hitter not only through 2022 but also through 2026. But the Phillies released Castellanos last month. He’d been insubordinate last season, but that wasn’t the main reason, because no sport endures insubordination like baseball. Castellanos’ real sin was that, for the better part of four seasons, he stole money.
Casty’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) since 2022 was 1.3. Bohm’s was 5.8.
Who was the real disappointment?
Nick Castellanos was supposed to be the right-handed bat in the cleanup spot to protect Bryce Harper. He was released last month by the Phillies.
Peer pressure
Not only does Bohm compare favorably to the $100 million man, he compares favorably with players of his approximate age.
Among first-round hitters from 2018 with at least 1,000 plate appearances, Bohm’s 5.3 WAR ranks fourth. His .743 OPS ranks second, by just one-thousandth of a point, to Royals infielder Jonathan India. Bohm’s 70 homers rank third. His 719 games played ranks first.
What about the 2017 draft? Among first-round hitters from both 2017 and 2018 combined, Bohm is sixth in WAR, fifth in OPS, sixth in homers, and still first in games played — and yes, we omitted Kyler Murray, drafted ninth overall by the A’s but opted to play in the NFL.
Bohm was picked high in the draft, so how does he compare to those guys? Well, among the first 10 hitters selected in both drafts combined, Murray again omitted, Bohm’s 5.3 WAR ranks second.
It’s true that 2017 is considered one of the worst drafts in recent memory, but Bohm can’t do anything about that. Simply, when compared with his peers, Bohm is outperforming almost all of them.
Alec Bohm has worked hard to transform himself from utterly disastrous defensively at third base to perfectly acceptable in his last three seasons.
Current crop
How does Bohm compare with the rest of baseball over his career?
Since Bohm debuted in 2020, his OPS of .743 ranks 150th among the 382 hitters with at least 1,000 plate appearances. He is far above average.
We can’t make the argument that Bohm is a far above-average player. He’s not. But he’s certainly average at least, and that’s saying something. He’ll be a 30-year-old free agent after this season, and he’ll probably last at least four or five more seasons.
Historically, fewer than 20% of first-rounders collect 1,000 hits. Bohm has 753. Similarly, fewer than 10% of all major league players play at least 10 seasons. Bohm is entering his sixth.
He has been, by any measure, a good first-round pick.
Is he everything folks thought he’d be when he was drafted — that is, a middle-of-the-lineup run-producer? Not really.
Is he adequate protection for a slugger like Harper? Probably not.
Is he the most emotionally stable player? No.
In 2022, on a night when he’d struggled defensively, Bohm made a routine play. Phillies fans cheered sarcastically. TV cameras caught Bohm saying, “I [bleeping] hate this place.”
Alec Bohm confirms postgame that he said "I fucking hate this place" when fans sarcastically cheered after he made a play pic.twitter.com/I0IdZ0lEn9
In 2024, mired in a 2-for-31 slump that bled from the end of the season into the playoffs, Bohm, in full pout mode, was benched for Game 2 of the NLDS. (His replacement, Edmundo Sosa, did not reach base in two plate appearances, Bohm pinch-hit for him and did the same, and the Phillies won.)
Bohm is not a fan favorite. Phillies fans despise a lack of mental toughness.
But Bohm did manage 97 RBIs in both 2023 and 2024. He did hit 20 home runs in 2023, and he was an All-Star in 2024. He worked hard enough at third base to progress from utterly disastrous in his first two seasons to perfectly acceptable in his last three seasons.
Will he hit well enough to protect Harper this year? Probably not. Will García? Probably not.
His overall .675 OPS the past two seasons is far below Bohm’s .762. García was at .712 in the cleanup spot in 2024, .662 in 2025. He’s on a one-year, $10 million deal.
Bohm is making $10.2 million. It’s the first time in his career that he’s outearning the guy who’s being paid to do a job Bohm never was meant to do … unless you count Realmuto, whom the Phillies just re-signed. He’ll make $15 million this season.
For that kind of money, maybe every once in a while J.T. could help out at the four-spot.
