It’s no secret. The Phillies’ outfield over the last two years has largely been a dumpster fire.
Last year, Phils’ outfielders finished with a collective 3.5 fWAR, tied for 22nd, with a .710 OPS that was 18th. In ‘24, their .692 OPS was also 18th, with a 3.8 fWAR that was, wait for it, 22nd. Ever since Kyle Schwarber vacated left field for a full-time DH role, offense has been difficult to find.
Brandon Marsh has been, by far, the team’s best player over the last two seasons, totaling 4.7 fWAR over that time. Johan Rojas (1.5) and Harrison Bader (1.2) are the only other two outfielders with more than one win above replacement, and Rojas barely played for the Phils last season and Bader was here for two months. Nick Castellanos had some occasional bursts, but was, according to WAR, the team’s worst outfielder, with a nauseating mix of Max Kepler, David Dahl, Cristian Pache, Cal Stevenson, Weston Wilson, Austin Hays and Whit Merrifield simply taking up space.
So it’s no surprise Dave Dombrowski is talking about the need to improve the outfield at the GM Meetings taking place in Las Vegas. It is three positions on the field to which the Phils have not been able to find any answers. And it may be difficult to find offense in the outfield this winter, too. The Athletic’s Matt Gelb noted…
Last season, there were only 26 players who hit right-handed, played at least 60 percent of their games in the outfield, and accrued 400 plate appearances. That was the fewest in a non-shortened MLB season since 1968. The league had 20 teams then.
Which brings us to Justin Crawford, the Phillies’ consensus No. 3 prospect, a left-handed hitting singles hitter who Dombrowski is penciling into a starting spot in the 2026 outfield (quote via Gelb’s article).
“In my mind, Crawford has a real strong chance to be with our club,” Dombrowski said. “We’re giving him that opportunity to be with our club. We think he can play center field. Will that be our best with him in center? He’s never played right, so if it’s not center, he would have to play left. Is that our best setup as we go forward? I don’t know that. It’s very dependent, but we feel very comfortable if we said, ‘OK, you’re our center fielder.’ If that were the best (way), he would be fine to do that.”
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