Where have all the star center fielders gone? ‘Obvious’ position to fill Phillies’ needs lacks obvious solutions.

Maybe Brandon Marsh will be standing in center field when the Phillies begin next season at Nationals Park in Washington. Or maybe it will be Johan Rojas.

But would you be surprised if it’s neither?

In eight seasons, the Phillies have cycled through eight opening-day center fielders, including Rojas this year and Marsh last. There was Matt Vierling in 2022, Adam Haseley in ‘21, Roman Quinn in ‘20, Odúbel Herrera in ‘19, and Aaron Altherr (remember him?) in ‘18. Somehow, Mickey Moniak missed the list. Scott Kingery surely would’ve made it if he wasn’t starting at another position.

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At present, the Phillies are trying to diversify a lineup that has become overly homogenous with hitters who don’t lay off pitches out of the strike zone. The “obvious way,” as president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski puts it, to import plate discipline is to make a change in left field or center, where an inflexible roster isn’t bogged down by big salaries.

It’s very possible, then, that the center-field door will keep revolving.

“We’re in a position where, logically, [outfield] is the one spot, positional player-wise, that you’re going to look to upgrade in that regard,” Dombrowski said this week at the general managers’ meetings in San Antonio. “We still have some time to make decisions on what we’re going to do. But that’s the logical area for us.”

If the Phillies are able to sign a left fielder, they could slide Marsh over to center every day or as the more dominant (lefty-hitting) side of a platoon with Rojas. If they acquire a center fielder, Marsh could stay in left.

But it isn’t that straightforward. The inventory of free-agent left fielders, especially ones with the Phillies’ desired skill set at the plate, is scarce. Beyond $500 million (and probably more) man Juan Soto, Teoscar Hernández and Anthony Santander are power hitters with similar chase-rate tendencies as many of the Phillies’ hitters.

The best fit might be Jurickson Profar, a contact hitter with strike-zone awareness. But his .839 OPS last season was 127 points better than his mark over the previous eight (.712). And he’s a poor defender.

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Center field, historically a premium position, is largely a wasteland. One generation after Ken Griffey Jr., Andruw Jones, Bernie Williams, Jim Edmonds, Kenny Lofton, Carlos Beltrán, and Torii Hunter, the leaguewide OPS in center field this season plummeted to .697, the second-lowest mark since 1989 and seventh-lowest since 1912. In 2024, the only positions that produced a lower OPS were catcher and second base.

So, the Phillies aren’t alone in not solving the middle of the outfield.

“I think teams have really prioritized defensive value in center field, so perhaps just the type of talent that’s out there has changed a little bit,” said White Sox general manager Chris Getz. “There isn’t a well of well-rounded center fielders that can hit and defend that are coming up through systems or just across the league, in general.”

Said Pirates GM Ben Cherington: “If you have really good defense in center, it can add up to wins. And we see some teams, think of the Rays probably, where they’ve run out pretty defensive-oriented center fielders on teams that have won a lot of games. But everyone’s looking for Mike Trout in his prime, too.”

Even Trout, an all-time great center fielder, might not be viable at the position anymore. After missing 382 of 648 games over the last four seasons, he informed the Angels that he’s willing to move to a corner outfield spot if it helps him stay healthy.

Some teams still view center field as a source of offense. After trading for Soto last winter, the Yankees moved Aaron Judge to center, even though he’s 32 and a better defender in right, where there’s less ground to cover and not as much wear and tear on the legs.

The Padres successfully moved Fernando Tatis Jr. from shortstop to right field a few years ago, so they trusted infield prospect Jackson Merrill with center field this year. Merrill, who was blocked at shortstop by Ha-Seong Kim and Xander Bogaerts, hit 25 homers with an .826 OPS and provided league-average defense.

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“Getting offense up the middle is a real thing,” said Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller. “It’s a big advantage when you get a catcher, a shortstop, a center fielder that can hit. Jackson, center field was a spot [of need], and he was willing to do it and our team thought he could do it. But it wasn’t like, ‘Hey, put him in center field because the league is down in center field.’”

It does help explain, though, why the White Sox didn’t sell low on Luis Robert Jr. at the trade deadline — and might not this winter, either.

An All-Star in 2023, Robert’s stock dropped amid an injury-interrupted, unproductive (.657 OPS) season. But he’s still a center fielder. So, although the White Sox just set a major-league record with 121 losses and Robert is under contract next season with $20 million club options for 2026 and 2027, they can hold off until at least July and hope that he rebuilds his value in the interim.

“When you look at Luis Robert and what he’s capable of doing, both offensive potential and defense, it’s still very enticing,” Getz said. “It was a tough year. He was dealt a tough hand considering the [hip] injury. But we’ve been around him long enough, and we remain believers that he can be an All-Star-type center fielder.”

Phillies officials believe their next center fielder is in the organization, two steps away from the majors. They’re bullish on 20-year-old Justin Crawford, who has hit for high average at each level of the system through double A since getting drafted in the first round in 2022. The finishing touch of his development will be to drive more balls in the gaps rather than hitting them on the ground.

If Crawford is able to do that early next season, Dombrowski isn’t averse to pushing a young player to the big leagues. With the Red Sox, he called up Andrew Benintendi from double A in 2016 and Rafael Devers after only nine triple A games in 2017.

» READ MORE: John Middleton expects the Phillies to spend more in 2025. And they have options beyond Juan Soto.

“I’m not sure that, [as] we go into spring training, we’re going to count on him being one of our big-league starting outfielders, but he has a lot of ability,” Dombrowski said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he came at any time [next season].”

While they wait for Crawford, there are signs that the Phillies will be opportunistic in the trade market. Dombrowski has described the team’s approach as “open-minded.” Last month, he noted that teams “sometimes trade good players for good players.” And he said this week that he has fielded more calls than usual about players on the Phillies’ roster.

If the Phillies like the idea of Profar in left field, they could flip Marsh for a late-inning reliever and go with light-hitting Rojas’ defense in center. (The Brewers could move closer Devin Williams; the Cardinals might dangle Ryan Helsley.)

Marsh’s future remains a fascinating topic. Entering his age-27 season, he continues to strike out in nearly one-third of his plate appearances and hasn’t hit lefties enough to be an everyday player. But he’s a superb left fielder and a solid defender in center. With three more seasons of club control, he figures to have strong trade value.

For all of those reasons, though, he has value to the Phillies, too.

“Sometimes you have to say, ‘Hey, we’re just going to trot him out and let him play every day,’” Dombrowski said “We haven’t really reached the point of, when are we going to do that? But at some point we’re just going to have to say, ‘OK, here you go. It’s yours.’”

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Or maybe they will let another team make that decision, especially if Crawford is getting closer.

“I can’t tell you that, sometime this wintertime, I don’t say, ‘OK, we’re just going to give [Marsh] the opportunity,’” Dombrowski said. “It might depend how else we look as a team. ... If you’re out there talking to clubs and you make another trade, that could change [the needs] somewhere else. So, how do we put all these pieces together in that regard?”

Especially at a time in the sport when all-around outfielders are in such short supply.