{"id":97963,"date":"2025-03-22T21:09:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-23T01:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=97963"},"modified":"2025-03-22T21:09:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-23T01:09:49","slug":"phillies-opening-day-roster-projection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/03\/22\/phillies-opening-day-roster-projection\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillies Opening Day Roster Projection"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the latest round of cuts,<\/a> the Phillies opening day roster is becoming clearer. The team announced its starting pitcher<\/a> for opening day on March 17. This year the team starts the regular season against the Washington Nationals on March 27 on the road. Furthermore, the home opener is against the Colorado Rockies on March 31. There are a few position battles that still need to be decided. Injuries may also alter how the Phillies 26-man roster looks to start the regular season. Remaining minor league options will also be a factor.<\/p>\n

Players will be listed in alphabetical order within their position group.<\/p>\n

Pitchers<\/h3>\n

Jos\u00e9 Alvarado, Tanner Banks, Orion Kerkering,<\/em> Jes\u00fas Luzardo, Aaron Nola, Jordan Romano, Joe Ross, Jos\u00e9 Ruiz, Cristopher S\u00e1nchez, Matt Strahm, Ranger Su\u00e1rez, Taijuan Walker and Zack Wheeler<\/em><\/p>\n

This area has the most injury concern. Strahm and Su\u00e1rez are both dealing with injuries<\/a> that could lead to them starting the season on the injured list. Todd Zolecki of MLB.com noted that Michael Mercado and Tyler Phillips are next in line if needed. Phillips would presumably be first in line because he is out of minor-league options. Mercado has minor league options available. Additionally, the decision regarding<\/a> Walker seems to have already been made. Nabil Crismatt being reassigned essentially confirms that Walker will make the team. Walker is in a position to be in the starting rotation if Su\u00e1rez starts the season on the injured list.<\/p>\n

Catchers & Infielders<\/h3>\n

Alec Bohm, Kody Clemens, Bryce Harper, Rafael <\/em>March\u00e1n, J.T. Realmuto, Edmundo Sosa, Bryson Stott and Trea Turner\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Clemens will probably get the last bench spot. Buddy Kennedy and Clemens are out of options<\/a>, leading to a chance for both to make the team. Clemens, Kennedy, and Sosa have all gotten significant work in the outfield during spring training. Sosa has received playing time in center field as well. Clemens and Kennedy have played exclusively in corner outfield positions. March\u00e1n already won the backup catcher job, and Garrett Stubbs is being optioned. Christian Arroyo had a great spring training as a non-roster invitee. However, Arroyo is out of minor league options, which would come into play if he had made the team. Arroyo would have been added to the 40-man roster in this scenario.<\/p>\n

Outfielders & Designated Hitter<\/h3>\n

Nick Castellanos, Max Kepler, Brandon Marsh, Johan Rojas and Kyle Schwarber\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Four players in this group are locks to make the team. Rojas should be on<\/a> the Phillies opening day roster. However, Rojas could be the odd man out because of having minor league options remaining. Rojas primarily plays center field and is a good defender, which should work to his advantage. Kepler and Marsh have extensive center field experience but are better defenders in corner outfield roles. If the team feels comfortable enough with Sosa being the main right-handed hitting center field option Rojas will probably start the season with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Schwarber will likely see more time in the field at first base and left field this season. This spring, Schwarber has appeared in both positions.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credits: Chris Tilley-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the latest round of cuts, the Phillies opening day roster is becoming clearer. The team announced its starting pitcher for opening day on March 17. This year the team starts the regular season against the Washington Nationals on March 27 on the road. Furthermore, the home opener is against the Colorado Rockies on March […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4566,"featured_media":97972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1371,28343,28732,1032,28588,3009,701,4480],"class_list":["post-97963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-phillies","tag-christian-arroyo","tag-johan-rojas","tag-kody-clemens","tag-matt-strahm","tag-michael-mercado","tag-ranger-suarez","tag-taijuan-walker","tag-tyler-phillips"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4566"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97963"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97976,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97963\/revisions\/97976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}