It’s been an interesting offseason for the Philadelphia Phillies. After falling to the New York Mets in the NLDS, fans hoped for a shakeup during the offseason, but instead they were greeted with small but helpful moves, like outfielder Max Kepler, who can try and help last season’s outfield problem and left-handed starter Jesús Luzardo to add to the already strong rotation.
The Phillies missed out on the big fish, like Juan Soto, Willy Adames and Garrett Crochet, just to name a few. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t be better than the team that won the NL East for the first time in 13 years last season. They’ll just have to look inward for some extra support.
Rafael Marchán
With the Phillies looking to give J.T. Realmuto extra time off his feet this season, Rafael Marchán is primed for a bigger role in 2025. In the 17 games he played last year while Realmuto was on the IL, Marchán slashed a .294/.345/.549 line with three home runs in 51 at-bats. In just his third game with the team, he went 4-for-4 with two RBI.
More notably, he filled in seamlessly on the defensive end. His 1.87 pop time ranked fourth out of all the catchers in the league and was just 0.02 seconds behind Realmuto’s, who led the league. During his limited run with the team in 2021, Marchán threw out 40 percent of the runners trying to steal against him and threw out over 30 percent of runners while in the minor leagues in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, the number dipped down to 27 percent, which is just a tick below average.
Injuries have hindered the 25-year-old catcher though. He suffered a lower back injury last year in spring training and was out up until late May, and then a shoulder injury in August cost him another chance to be with the big league team. Assuming Marchán stays healthy, which has been a big “if” thus far, his production in his limited time with the club may be enough to promote him as the backup catcher over Garrett Stubbs.
Another caveat to the backup catcher debate is the fact that Stubbs has a minor league option left on his deal, while Marchán is out of minor league options, leaving the Phillies with a choice: Do they ride with the upside that Marchán brings to the table or stay with Stubbs, who is a much more defensive-based catcher.
Either way, a good and healthy spring training showing from Marchán could not only sway the Phillies to roll with him over Stubbs, but help ease the workload of Realmuto, who has been worked way more than any catcher since joining the Phillies.
Jesús Luzardo
While he’s not exactly an internal option, Jesús Luzardo could prove to be one of the best moves Dave Dombrowski has made since becoming the Phillies president of baseball operations in December 2020. Luzardo, who was acquired from the Miami Marlins in December in exchange for prospects Emaarion Boyd and Starlyn Caba, joins a rotation that was recently ranked as the second-best in the league, and while he’s projected to be the team’s No. 5 starter, his upside is off the charts.
Luzardo broke onto the scene in 2022 despite making just 18 starts, posting a 3.32 ERA with 120 strikeouts in 100 1/3 innings. He followed that up with a stellar 2023 campaign, where he finished 12th overall in strikeouts with 208 in 178 2/3 innings and was named as the Game 1 starter for the Wild Card series against the Phillies.
These two seasons made people start to believe that he could be a sleeper for the Cy Young in 2024, but his season ended before it really began, as he was placed on the 15-day injured list at the end of April with left elbow tightness, and then again in the middle of June with a lumber stress reaction.
Now, the former No. 12 overall prospect in 2020 feels “100 percent” and is poised for a bounce-back campaign. The 27-year-old left-hander relies on a five-pitch mix which consists of a four-seam fastball that sits around 95 mph, a sinker, changeup, curveball and a wipeout slider. The slider is by far his best pitch, as opponents whiffed on it 51.8 percent of the time in 2023, leading to 106 strikeouts, while opponents hit just .200 against the pitch last season.
Luzardo has also been an “NL East killer” since the calendar turned to 2022. He has a 3.63 ERA and 43 strikeouts against the Atlanta Braves in 32 2/3 innings, a 3.60 ERA and 35 strikeouts against the New York Mets in 25 innings and a 2.74 ERA and 20 strikeouts against the Washington Nationals in 23 innings. This is a complete 180 from the production that the Phillies got from last year’s No. 5 starter, Taijuan Walker, who had a 4.78 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 32 innings against the division last year.
His presence also helps deepen this loaded Phillies staff. With the addition of Andrew Painter in the near future, the Phillies may opt to go with a six-man rotation, which could help keep some starters, like Ranger Suárez, who’s suffered four injuries in the last three years, fresh for the postseason.
Seth Johnson
An unexpected name, but someone Phillies fans should get to know is right-handed pitcher Seth Johnson. The Phillies acquired the 26-year-old, along with Moisés Chace, at the trade deadline from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Gregory Soto. While he was with Baltimore, Johnson was the team’s No. 8 prospect and is currently the Phillies’ No. 14 prospect.
Fans may remember the one start that he had down in Miami on Sept. 8, when he gave up nine runs in just 2 1/3 as the Phillies continued to search for a No. 5 starter, but he’s a much better pitcher than the one we saw in South Beach.
Johnson recorded a 2.73 ERA in 25 starts across Double-A and Triple-A, but the thing that should excite the Phillies is how he dominated Triple-A in his brief time there. In five starts, Johnson recorded a 2.74 ERA and the opposition hit just .185 against him. He only recorded one start over five innings, but that could be credited to the fact that he had Tommy John surgery in 2022 and the Phillies want to monitor his workload.
That could also be how he helps the team this season. With Spencer Turnbull still in limbo in free agency, the Phillies could use another prototype like him; someone who can start a game if needed or come out of the bullpen as a long reliever if someone’s start gets cut short, and Johnson could fulfill that role. While the newly signed Joe Ross has experience in this role as well, his numbers against the NL East are alarmingly eye-opening, and the Phillies may want to give their prospect another shot, which is something that general manager Preston Mattingly didn’t hide when he joined The Phillies Show podcast.
“We’re very high on Seth Johnson,” Mattingly said. “I know he came up and struggled in a very short sample there in Miami but we think he’s a guy who can help us going forward.”
His repertoire consists of a 95 mph fastball with good life, an 87 mph slider that gets swing-and-miss, a mid-80s curveball that he uses to attack lefties, and a changeup that is still developing. With the starting rotation essentially locked up, a good spring training campaign may be all that Johnson needs to get onto the Opening Day roster as that Turnbull-type pitcher. However, even if he starts in Triple-A, don’t be surprised when we see him toe the rubber this year.
