Monday, June 15

Welcome to the latest edition of the Phillies Beat newsletter. This version was written by Paul Casella, who has been based in Philadelphia since 2019 and covers the team alongside Todd Zolecki.

MILWAUKEE -- The Phillies return home this week with an outfield picture that looks quite different from when they left.

Right fielder Adolis García is likely done for the season, prospect Gabriel Rincones Jr. has been called up and Derek Hill has been acquired from the White Sox.

So, how will the Phillies’ outfield look moving forward?

Interim manager Don Mattingly has a plan for how he'll deploy his new-look outfield -- and yes, it will depend on the opposing starting pitcher.

Here's how Philadelphia's outfield will likely look on most days for the time being:

Phillies outfield vs. RHP
LF: Brandon Marsh
CF: Justin Crawford
RF: Gabriel Rincones Jr.

Phillies outfield vs. LHP
LF: Edmundo Sosa
CF: Derek Hill
RF: Marsh

So reading between the lines, that means the Phillies have essentially gone from platooning Marsh over the past few years to him being the club's only everyday outfielder. He will alternate between left field and right field, while the other two spots will be occupied by a pair of platoons (Crawford/Rincones vs. righties and Hill/Sosa vs. lefties).

There are a few things to work through with this alignment, so let's break it down piece by piece:

Will platooning hurt Crawford's development?

This is perhaps the biggest question fans will be asking after seeing the Phillies deploy platoons with some of their other young players in recent years. Not to mention they just recently optioned Otto Kemp back to Triple-A because they didn't want to stunt his growth by giving him sporadic at-bats.

So, how is the Crawford situation different? Well, the key here is that Crawford is on the left-handed-hitting side of his platoon. In other words, he'll be in the lineup any time the Phils face a right-handed starter -- something that happens approximately 75% of the time.

"When you're on that side of the platoon, you're getting between 450-500 bats, so you're playing regularly," Mattingly said. "So I don't think it's something that sets him back [overall]."

Mattingly would know better than most. During his 1983 rookie season with the Yankees, he went nearly two full months without starting against a left-handed pitcher.

"I kind of rely on my own history, because when I first came up, I platooned -- and it wasn't a terrible thing for me," Mattingly said. "I probably would have struggled with the lefties. [Crawford] is a guy who I think is going to get lefties, but with the amount of lefties you see -- we don't see a ton -- it gives him days where he can step back, keep working on his swing and keep doing things."

Crawford is slashing .227/.286/.325 (.611 OPS) through his first 210 big league plate appearances -- only 32 of which have come against lefties. He's just 4-for-28 (.143) with zero extra-base hits and six strikeouts in those limited opportunities.

Now, Mattingly did acknowledge that will obviously impact Crawford's development specifically against left-handed pitching, but that's something that he can build up to as he improves in general.

"It will set him back a little bit from the standpoint of dealing with lefties, but this is more about him having success, giving him the best chance," Mattingly said. "And then, we'll let him grow into the lefties.”

Why not give Rincones everyday at-bats?

The Phillies have been high on Rincones -- their No. 6 prospect -- for a while now. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski predicted quite early in the offseason that Rincones could play a role on the 2026 team.

After battling some offseason leg issues that delayed his start to the season, Rincones is now indeed ready to show what he can do after making his MLB debut on Friday night. It wasn't exactly the softest landing spot for Rincones, who faced the nearly untouchable Jacob Misiorowski on Friday before sitting on both Saturday and Sunday with Milwaukee starting a pair of lefties.

Though Rincones will get the majority of reps against righties right now, he's unlikely to face many lefties after hitting just .107 (6-for-56) with zero extra-base hits against them with Triple-A Lehigh Valley last season.

Is Sosa turning into a legitimate outfielder?

Strangely enough, Sosa is one of the main factors in the Crawford platoon situation.

Sosa spent most of last season platooning with Bryson Stott at second base. As for this year, Sosa resumed the outfield experiment the Phillies tested briefly last season under the belief he could platoon with Marsh after Kemp and Felix Reyes were unable to seize the opportunity.

But with Marsh forcing his way into the lineup every day based on production and Stott getting regular playing time at second base, it's left fewer chances for Sosa. That's where Crawford becomes the odd man out.

"It kind of all goes back to Stott playing a lot more, and Marsh playing every day," Mattingly said. "You still want to get Sos in the lineup, so this is a way to get him in the lineup and keep Marsh and Stott in there, too."

Sosa has started just seven of the Phillies' past 21 games -- and all but one of those starts came in the outfield. There are plays where it's obvious he's still learning on the fly, but there have also been some impressive plays such as the sliding catch he made on Saturday night.

"I'd say, in general, he's an infielder who we're kind of getting more and more time out there in left -- and he hasn't hurt us, right?" Mattingly said. "He's caught everything he should have caught. He's made some nice plays. ... He's been solid for us."

Though the Phillies have not yet set their rotation beyond this week's three-game series against the Marlins, it's possible there could be a small tweak to the order as soon as next week.

Asked if he would consider splitting up Aaron Nola and Andrew Painter, Mattingly didn't rule it out. Nola has been unable to complete five innings in each of his past two starts, while Painter has done so just once in his past three outings -- and that one still required the Phils to burn a reliever as an opener.

"I would think that's something we would consider," Mattingly said. " ... I think if it's natural, it's something we would talk about, because it would be nice to have those two split right now."

The only way to make that change naturally within the next few weeks would be swapping Painter and Jesús Luzardo early next week. With Friday's off-day, the Phillies could start Painter on regular rest next Monday and bump Luzardo back a day to Tuesday -- giving him two extra days of rest.

The updated rotation order would then be: Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler, Painter, Luzardo, Nola.

This would be the Phillies' only chance to shuffle things up in the near future since they play 13 games in 13 days following Friday's off-day.

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