Former first-round picks Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm and Mickey Moniak make Phillies’ opening-day roster

CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Phillies’ farm system has long been considered a wasteland, but the club will open the 2022 season with three recent first-round picks on their roster: 2016 outfielder Mickey Moniak, 2018 third baseman Alec Bohm, and 2019 shortstop Bryson Stott.

Moniak found out last week, when the team traded 2017 first-round outfielder Adam Haseley. Stott, the franchise’s top prospect and this year’s spring training sensation, and Bohm, whose star seemed to have fallen, found out Monday. Stott and Bohm were involved in a competition to play third base. As it turned out, the competition for the spot wasn’t really a competition at all. Everybody won.

» READ MORE: Bryson Stott belongs in the majors. The Phillies had no choice but to find out if he is a star.

Stott, 24, can also play second base, and did so Tuesday. Bohm, 25, can also play first. Moniak, 23, is a left-handed hitter, and he likely will platoon with Matt Vierling in center field.

Phillies manager Joe Girardi said he will find at-bats for all of them. Like Moniak, Stott was a lock early on. Still ...

“When [Girardi] told me, it was kind of a sigh of relief,” Stott said. He hit .419 this spring, worked hard to learn third base, and at one point led the Grapefruit League in OPS.

Bohm was never a lock. He finished second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2020, but a series of slumps in 2021 landed him in the minors in September. He then went 2-for-22 to open the spring.

Was he worried?

“No. I’ve been here the last two years,” Bohm said, wrinkling his nose. “I know what I’m capable of. I know what kind of player I am. I was never worried about anything.”

Apparently not. Bohm shortened his stride and went 5-for-10 in the next five games.

» READ MORE: Phillies 2022 season preview: Biggest storylines, predictions, roster outlook and more

The trio joins a star-studded roster that is expected to win immediately. They’ll take whatever playing time they can get. “I don’t think anybody’s going to be crying” about playing time, Bohm said.

The only crying Tuesday came from Stott’s mother, Shana. Stott called back home in Las Vegas on Monday morning and caught her on her way in to Eldorado High, where she works as a credit-retrieval teacher, helping kids get back on track to graduating.

“She held it together pretty well on the phone,” Stott said. “Then I got a text from her 20 minutes later. She had to clean herself up for work.”

» READ MORE: Matt Vierling keeps proving he belongs, this time as the Phillies’ center fielder

Stott will wear No. 5 in honor of boyhood friend Cooper Ricciardi, who died of cancer after their junior year of high school. Stott wore No. 10 throughout the minors, but began wearing No. 5 last year at the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .318 with a .934 OPS.

Stott has not played above triple A, but he hit .298 with 22 home runs in two minor-league seasons since the Phillies drafted him 14th overall in 2019 (COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 minor-league season). Bohm hit .338 in 44 games as a rookie (COVID shortened the season to 60 games), but fell to .247 in 115 games in 2021 and regressed as a fielder as well.

» READ MORE: How a black journal helped Mickey Moniak earn a spot on the Phillies’ opening-day roster

Moniak, a .253 hitter with 37 homers in 502 minor-league games who hit .128 in brief big-league appearances the past two seasons, broke out this spring: a .371 average, five home runs, and a 1.285 OPS.

On a win-now team studded with stars who command a $221 million payroll that exceeds the luxury-tax threshold, the young players aren’t guaranteed much besides the first few of weeks of the season.

“This is a performance-based business,” Girardi said. “Your performance determines your playing time. If you’re performing at a really high level, you may take time away from another guy.”

At least the farm has started producing.

In his last start before Sunday’s scheduled season debut, Zach Eflin lasted just 3⅔ innings, but he gave up just one run on four hits, struck out seven, and walked none on 64 pitches. Eflin fought through a knee injury last season before surgery ended his season in mid-July, and his recovery has progressed as quickly as possible.

With No. 1 starter Zack Wheeler running a week behind due to offseason shoulder soreness and a spring training bout with the flu, No. 2 starter Aaron Nola on Friday will pitch his fifth straight season opener for the Phillies against the visiting A’s. Kyle Gibson will follow Saturday, then Eflin on Sunday. Ranger Suárez, who pitches the spring finale at Tampa Bay on Wednesday, welcomes the Mets on Monday. The Phillies break camp after Wednesday’s final spring game at the Rays, but Wheeler won’t go with them. He’ll pitch in an intrasquad game on Thursday and rejoin the team in Philadelphia.

» READ MORE: Who’s going seven? Throwback mentality of starting pitchers suits Phillies’ needs in 2022

Hard-throwing right-hander Connor Brogdon finally touched 95 mph several times in a 1-2-3 inning during a 5-1 win over the Pirates on Tuesday, easing concerns that he might not be ready to open the season. Brogdon entered the abbreviated spring training session further behind than some of his teammates, which cost him velocity on a fastball that averages about 96 mph. There’s no injury, Brogdon and the Phillies agree. He just needed a full spring training, but this one was delayed, then essentially halved by the owners’ lockout.

“For a lot of guys, 6½ weeks of spring training is really good for them. Some other guys don’t need it,” Girardi said. “I think Brogdon is one of those guys who 6½ weeks is really good for.”

Brogdon, 27, has a 3.52 ERA in 65 games over the past two seasons.

Kyle Schwarber hit his third home run of the spring and J.T Realmuto, Nick Castellanos, and Moniak all doubled against the Pirates. ... Outfielder Odúbel Herrera (oblique) and relievers Sam Coonrod (shoulder), JoJo Romero (elbow), Ken Emanuel (elbow), and Ryan Sheriff (biceps) will stay in Clearwater to rehabilitate. ... After the game Tuesday the Phillies optioned infielder Nick Maton to triple-A Lehigh Valley and assigned right-handers Andrew Bellatti and Michael Kelly to minor-league camp. ... The Phillies need to move a player off the 40-man roster by Friday to make room for Stott.