What we learned from the Phillies’ trade for reliever Gregory Soto

It isn’t a secret. Not after more than three decades of building major-league rosters. When it comes to pitching, Dave Dombrowski has a type.

“I’ve always believed in power arms,” he said two years ago after getting hired to head up the Phillies’ baseball operations. “That’s something I grew up with in the White Sox organization. We had a lot of good, young pitching at that time. I always liked that aspect of it. I’ve always put an emphasis on it.”

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Dombrowski’s first move with the Phillies: a trade for lefty José Alvarado, who has thrown the second-most 100-mph heaters in the majors since 2020. A few days later, he picked up reliever Sam Coonrod (average fastball velocity: 97.5 mph). Dombrowski almost can’t wait to add top prospect Andrew Painter — and his 98 mph smoke — to the starting rotation at some point this year.

It was no surprise, then, to learn that the Phillies spoke with the Tigers at the winter meetings last month about hard-throwing Gregory Soto — or that Dombrowski recast a line and reeled in the lefty reliever late last week when Detroit president of baseball operations Scott Harris dangled him once again in trade talks.

But while Soto possesses the grade of gasoline that has long attracted Dombrowski and was the primary draw for the Phillies in the five-player swap that was finalized Saturday, there were a few other notable takeaways. Here’s some of what we learned:

In five seasons under the leadership of Andy MacPhail and Matt Klentak, the Phillies went through pitching coaches like they were tissues. From Bob McClure (2016-17) to Rick Kranitz (2018), Chris Young (2019), and Bryan Price (2020), there wasn’t continuity, to say nothing of an overriding organizational pitching culture.

But when the Phillies hired Caleb Cotham in the 2020-21 offseason, one month before Dombrowski came aboard, a high-ranking team official said, “I think he’s got a chance to be a really good one.”

Two years later, Cotham and director of pitching Brian Kaplan have shaped a program that guides the Phillies’ pitching decisions.

As a devotee of Driveline Baseball, the Seattle-based think tank, Cotham’s philosophies are rooted in analytics. Kaplan worked previously at Cressey Sports Performance, a Florida training facility used by dozens of major-league pitchers. Together, they have used data to help optimize the performances of Alvarado, Andrew Bellatti, and several other pitchers while communicating the changes in ways that are easily understood.

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Before the Phillies traded for Soto, they sought input from Cotham and Kaplan on ideas for how to rein in his wayward command and lower his 13.1% career walk rate. Before they signed Craig Kimbrel, they asked Cotham and Kaplan to meet with him about biomechanics. Kimbrel said he came away believing “they’re going to have beneficial tools that would be able to help me” after he struggled late last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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In turn, it’s clear that Dombrowski is willing to take chances on Kimbrel, Soto, and other pitchers based on his trust in Cotham and Kaplan.

“We really have a great deal of confidence in our pitching personnel to help guys however we possibly can,” Dombrowski said. “It’s not only from that. It’s also some of the conditioning and some of the motor movements that we coordinate through the different departments.”

No surprise here. The Phillies didn’t trade touted catcher Logan O’Hoppe to the Los Angeles Angels at the deadline to get a part-time center fielder. But Marsh, a left-handed hitter, also wasn’t in the lineup much against lefties down the stretch and in the playoffs.

In trading Matt Vierling to Detroit, the Phillies no longer have a righty-hitting center-field alternative.

“We think [Marsh] can continue to grow vs. left-hand pitching and he will hit left-hand pitching,” Dombrowski said. “We don’t look at him as a platoon-type of player.”

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Marsh is a .220/.253/.266 hitter against lefties, including .188/.226/.260 last season. But he’s also still developing. He turned 25 last month, making him the Phillies’ youngest position player.

After acquiring Marsh in August, the Phillies put him to work with hitting coach Kevin Long, who widened his stance and shortened his stride to get him to use his legs more effectively. Marsh hit .288/.319/.455 with 14 extra-base hits in 138 plate appearances compared to .226/.284/.353 with 19 extra-base hits in 323 plate appearances with the Angels.

The Phillies have center-field depth in the minors, although Dombrowski conceded that defensively gifted 22-year-old Johan Rojas remains raw as a hitter. They’re betting, then, that Marsh will continue to get better, even against lefties, while playing solid defense and hitting at or near the bottom of the order.

And he will have plenty of opportunity to prove them right.

Fourth outfielders and utility players are usually replaceable, so it’s unlikely the Phillies will end up regretting moving on from Vierling or Nick Maton. But it does leave the bench thinner than before, particularly in the outfield.

Backup catcher Garrett Stubbs and utility infielder Edmundo Sosa have spots as reserves. Dombrowski suggested that Kody Clemens, son of Roger and the second player acquired from Detroit, may take Maton’s place, although he profiles more as a corner infielder.

It’s less clear how the Phillies will replace Vierling, no small matter considering Bryce Harper won’t play the outfield again until after the All-Star break.

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Internally, the top options are Dalton Guthrie and newcomer Jake Cave. Dombrowski mentioned Guthrie as a leading candidate, but it’s notable that the former sixth-round pick wasn’t even on the 40-man roster until September. Cave, a waiver claim last month and a left-handed hitter (Guthrie bats right-handed), slugged .466 in his first 537 major-league plate appearances with the Minnesota Twins before falling off over the last three years.

When the Phillies want to use Kyle Schwarber or Nick Castellanos as the designated hitter while Harper remains out, they will need a reliable fourth outfielder. It may be the final priority, either via trade or a low-cost free-agent signing, before spring training. Dombrowski noted that they now have more bullpen depth from which to make a deal.

“It probably opens it up a little bit more for the competition aspect with Vierling gone,” Dombrowski said. “Maybe it solidifies a guy like Guthrie, as we stand now. But who knows? That would be a situation where that would be something that we’d be open-minded to looking towards.”