In his finest moments, he looks the part: a lefty hitter who barrels the ball and plays good defense in the outfield. Cave has much more major league experience than the youngsters, including two seasons as an above average hitter. Jake CaveĬave - the team’s Opening Day starter in left field - crushed Triple-A pitching to the tune of a 1.113 OPS over the summer after his dominant Spring Training was followed up by a disappointing first month of the regular season. The last several weeks and the next few are serving as times for Cave, Pache and Rojas to audition for postseason plate appearances.

Meanwhile, Marsh - whose offensive improvement has been one of the most impressive developments of the season for the Phillies - still struggles mightily against left-handers, with an OPS nearly 200 points lower against lefties than against righties. But between the three players, an obvious frontrunner has not emerged in the race to join Nick Castellanos and Brandon Marsh in the outfield against right-handed pitching. “We can win with this group.”Ī few players served as potential internal fixes: Jake Cave, Johan Rojas and Cristian Pache. “We really decided that we really were going to have to be enamored with a name that was out there,” Dombrowski said on The Athletic’s Starkville podcast.

The team’s only offensive addition being Castro, a utility infielder whose primary skill is hitting left-handed pitching, signaled a belief that a solution to the outfield problem could come from within. Despite having considerably more blue-chip talent than many of their competitors, the Phillies had yet to separate themselves from the pack.Īs Bryce Harper became acclimated with playing first base and Kyle Schwarber’s primary position going from left field to designated hitter, adding an outfielder seemed like the obvious move to bolster Manager Rob Thomson’s lineup.ĭombrowski, often recognized for his aggressiveness in the trade market, took a patient, measured approach to the deadline.Īfter weeks of projections that the team would add an everyday position player, the team only added one hitter, infielder Rodolfo Castro, sending Triple-A starting pitcher Bailey Falter to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski’s team entered last August’s trade deadline with a 57-49 record, good for second place in the packed National League Wild Card standings.

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