Phillies Option Johan Rojas To Triple-A For Jhoan Duran And Harrison Bader

The trade deadline has caused some major moves

The Phillies have announced that they have optioned centerfielder Johan Rojas to Triple-A Lehigh Valley and placed right-handed relief pitcher Daniel Robert on the 15-day injured list to make room for outfielder Harrison Bader and closing right-handed pitcher Jhoan Duran.

Bader and Duran were both acquired from the Minnesota Twins in separate trades prior to Thursday’s MLB trade deadline.

According to Phillies manager Rob Thomson, the plan for at least the next 6 games is that the Phillies will platoon Harrison Bader and Brandon Marsh in centerfield and Max Kepler and Otto Kemp in leftfield, and reassess after those games. Thomson also said that he can envision Bader in centerfield vs. right-handed pitching, but not right away.

For Rojas, it’s been a struggling year for the 24-year-old centerfielder, who is hitting just .224 on the season and .177 since May 1. While his defense has been near Gold Glove worthy, his offensive struggles have been a topic of conversation since he arrived in Philadelphia, and now they hope a trip back to Lehigh Valley can address his hitting issues.

Then there’s Robert, who was likely to move following the Duran trade, as Robert has mainly been pitching in losing or blowout situations since he was called up back in June. He’s posted a 5.79 ERA over just 9.1 innings pitched, striking out only 12 batters.

While some may seem surprised over the move, particularly regarding sending Rojas down, this seemed like the likely move after comments yesterday from the Phillies’ president of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski.

Dombrowski spoke to the media following the trade deadline and stated that Max Kepler was still in the mix to be an outfielder for the Phillies and that he was staying on the team following the trades.

He’s playing left field for us at this time,” Dombrowski said Thursday. “He’s actually been swinging the bat a little bit better, particularly versus right-handed pitching. But he’s part of our roster at this time.”

While the question of how long Kepler stays on this team remains unanswered, Dombrowski stated that Phillies’ top outfield prospect, Justin Crawford, is ready to play in the majors, and it may be only a matter of time before he is called on the replace Kepler’s spot on the team.

Matt Brown

Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.

Twitter

Get new articles emailed right to your inbox.