Phillies’ outfielder need looms large ahead of the trade deadline after Johan Rojas is sent to triple A

A year ago, any discussion of the Phillies’ trade deadline plans hinged on one question: Could Bryce Harper play first base?

The answer came in mid-July. Harper tumbled over the dugout railing in Cleveland to haul in a foul pop, Kyle Schwarber became the designated hitter, and the Phillies dispersed their scouts in search of a righty-hitting left fielder.

And then Johan Rojas changed everything.

» READ MORE: 'If he's doing what he can do on offense, this is probably the best version of our club.' Why the Phillies sent Johan Rojas to triple A

It isn’t crazy to think that Rojas could do it again. Even after the Phillies optioned the 23-year-old to triple A on Monday, manager Rob Thomson said he believes the “best version of our club” still has Rojas blanketing center field like a tarpaulin and making the minimal contribution from the No. 9 spot in the batting order.

Maybe. But the more the Phillies see of Rojas, the harder it must be for them to trust that he can do the latter, in particular.

Never mind that he doesn’t have an extra-base hit since May 10. Or that he’s batting .235/.271/.295 for a .566 OPS that ranked 199th out of 208 players with at least 190 plate appearances entering the week. All the Phillies really ask is that Rojas move runners and use his speed. Yet he has one sacrifice bunt since May 15; his lone bunt single (in six attempts) came back on April 13.

“He was [trying to bunt], and he’s not getting them down,” Thomson said. “He needs to do it in a game. There’s a little less pressure and probably a little better opportunity to do it at triple A.”

Sure. The Phillies also entered the week with an eight-game lead in the NL East. J.T. Realmuto is sidelined for at least a month, leaving them in need of offense from other sources. And the trade deadline is still six weeks away.

There’s no time like the present, then, to give Rojas what Thomson called a “reset.” In Lehigh Valley, away from the spotlight that often follows the team with the best record in the National League, maybe Rojas can exhale, rebuild his confidence, and reclaim his place in center field, where even his defense has slipped a notch below his typically elite level.

» READ MORE: What if the Phillies’ outfield production doesn’t improve? Here are a few trade options to watch.

In a way, though, the Phillies must approach the July 30 deadline almost as they did last June and early July, when Rojas was in double A and barely on the radar.

Because their in-house alternatives — twin platoons of Brandon Marsh and Cristian Pache in center field, David Dahl and Whit Merrifield in left — aren’t long-term fixes. And while Marsh is among the league’s better defenders in left field, he is only average in center.

Trea Turner has started 45 games in center field, none since 2016, and there has been no discussion of relocating the star shortstop, especially after his two-month absence with a strained hamstring. Edmundo Sosa, who filled in so well for Turner, will take fly balls in left field but likely isn’t a viable everyday option there.

So restart the search for an outfielder, preferably one who bats right-handed and can play center field.

Last season, the Phillies explored options such as Adam Duvall, Randal Grichuk, and Teoscar Hernández. But they balked at the desired returns in what president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski termed a “very strong seller’s market.” They also didn’t want to be “redundant,” as Dombrowski put it, by adding more strikeouts to a lineup already prone to chasing pitches out of the zone.

Mostly, though, the Phillies made a calculation. Although Rojas had been in the majors for only two weeks — and skipped over triple A along the way — he played difference-making defense and possessed speed that added another dimension to the offense.

» READ MORE: The Phillies won’t lack for All-Stars. Here’s the cases for each candidate, including two intriguing long shots.

It won’t be any less of a seller’s market this time around. For one thing, outfield production is down everywhere. Through Sunday, major-league outfielders had a .699 OPS, down from .745 last season. The Phillies ranked 27th in outfield OPS (.625), largely because of Nick Castellanos’ .609 mark entering the week.

But several other contenders are in need of outfield help, too. The Braves are without Ronald Acuña Jr. (torn ACL) for the rest of the season and Michael Harris II (strained hamstring) for the foreseeable future. The Royals, Cardinals, Mariners, and Dodgers have gotten scant production from their outfields.

Teams will line up, then, for White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. At 26, he will make $15 million next year and has $20 million club options for 2026 and 2027. Even though injuries have limited him to one season with more than 500 at-bats, Chicago still should be able to bring back a multiprospect haul.

The White Sox are among only a handful of teams that are definitively deadline sellers. The addition of the third wild card, which enabled the Diamondbacks to make the playoffs with 84 wins last season en route to winning the pennant, has given hope to teams on the fringes. In the NL, only the Rockies and Marlins aren’t in position to make a wild-card push, so the trade landscape is far from taking shape.

But here are the Phillies — with Harper at first base, Schwarber at DH, and Rojas back in the minors — in the market again for an outfielder.

“There were some things we explained to [Rojas] that he needs to do — cut down his swing, use the field, and be able to bunt,” Thomson said. “Those are the things that we need. Because if he’s doing what he can do on offense — which is just be a table-setter, really; move the ball, move runners — with him playing center field, that’s probably the best version of our club.”

It was last season. A year later, have the Phillies seen enough from Rojas to know that they need someone better?