The Good Phight will be previewing the 2026 season by going over each position on the field. We’ll talk about the players that will occupy them, the players behind them, their strengths and weaknesses and give a few takes about how we think the season will shake out.
It ain’t easy playing the outfield at Citizens Bank Park. No, it’s not because of the high expectations of Phillies fans, or flying batteries, or any of those other clichés. It’s just statistically a rough place to field the ball. That
being said, the vagaries of the CBP expanse can’t fully explain why the Phillies have struggled to get production from their outfield recently. Whatever explains the difficulties in fielding the ball there, whether it be wind or something else, it probably can’t explain why the Phillies’ outfielders haven’t hit the ball too well in the past few seasons. But, as Bob Dylan once sang, quite possibly referring to offseason roster changes (he is a baseball fan), the times, they are a-changing. The Phillies will debut a new-look outfield on Opening Day. Will the new unit fare better than their predecessors?
The starters: Brandon Marsh, Justin Crawford, Adolis García
At a wedding, they say that a bride ought to wear something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. Opening Day isn’t quite a wedding, but the Phillies outfield will follow that advice anyway. For something old, we have Brandon Marsh (and by old, we refer solely to the fact that that he’s been in Philly for longer than any of his fellow outfield patrolmen). Marsh was solid at the plate in 2025, posting a 116 wRC+, though his continued struggles against same-handed pitching once again required the Phillies to platoon him. But he was unimpressive with his glove, grading out as neutral by Fielding Run Value, and negative by Defensive Runs Saved; his -6 in the latter put him behind every Phillie save Nick Castellanos. He’s graded out as a positive fielder before, and he’ll look to do so again in 2026. He’ll do so largely in left, thanks to…
Something new: Justin Crawford. As a prospect he was praised for his speed and contact ability, but dogged by questions about his extreme tendencies to hit the ball into the ground. But he’s impressed in the minors (.334/.411/.452 with the IronPigs), and he’ll get his chance to do the same with the Phillies as their center fielder.
For something borrowed, we have Adolis García, who the Phillies grabbed from Texas via free agency. García boasts a mighty arm and a mighty bat, though only the former was fully on display in 2025. He hit the ball hard last season, as he always does, but failed to turn it into much production due to poor contact and swing decisions. When he fully taps into his potential, he’s capable of going on an absolute tear; ask the Rays, Orioles, Astros, or Diamondbacks about his activities in October of 2023. Then again, the same could’ve been said about his Phillies predecessor in right, who showed a similar capacity to set the world on fire in the postseason while enduring long droughts in effectiveness during the regular season. The Phillies are hoping that the comparison will prove less than apt. He’ll be playing in right.
As for something blue, any of the above fit when they’re wearing the City Connects.
The backups: Otto Kemp, Dylan Moore
Otto Kemp got most of his playing time in the infield last season, but he had 11 games in left, helping Marsh platoon. He’ll pull double duty again this season. He was only so-so with the bat in 2025, posting a wRC+ of 95. His arm strength is nothing to write home about, but he is fast, and a right-handed bat in the outfield is much appreciated. Speaking of right-handed bats, Dylan Moore offers the Phillies another, if they can find a spot on the roster for him. Like his fellow newcomer García, Moore comes to Philadelphia via Arlington, though he began the season with Seattle. Between the two teams, he posted a .201/.267/.374 slash line across 106 games. He’s not a great batter, but he offers an impressive history as a fielder having won the utility fielder’s Gold Glove for the AL in 2024. Kemp and Moore should be considered the main backups, though there is another player who qualifies: Edmundo Sosa doesn’t play the outfield often (only three appearances last year, and two of those were the result of mid-game defensive tinkering), but he is an option as well.
The Depth: Gabriel Rincones Jr. Pedro León, Bryan De La Cruz, Johan Rojas
Gabriel Rincones Jr. had a solid season at AAA last year, batting .240/.370/.43o. At 25, he’s not as young as Crawford, but he represents a potential youth infusion. Pedro León got a cup of coffee with Houston in 2024, and will be hoping to get another in Philadelphia. Bryan De La Cruz offers solid MLB experience, having played parts of five seasons with Miami, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta. The past three of those seasons saw him post negative bWAR, but having the option to bring in someone who’s spent plenty of time in the bigs before is a plus. As for Rojas, his PED suspension and struggles with the bat have him on the outside looking in; he may end up playing in a Phillies uniform again, but it seems unlikely that he will be a major part of the picture.
Strengths: Experience plus youth
García boasts two All-Star campaigns and a World Series title. Marsh hasn’t filled up his trophy case to the same degree, but he’s played enough, and had enough postseason experience, to count as a grizzled vet. Combine that experience with Crawford’s upside, and you can see a good picture coming together. With Crawford boasting plenty of promise, and with plenty of opportunity to learn from the experienced outfielders flanking him, he could quickly become a real contributor.
Weaknesses: Uncertainty
At this point, we know what we’ll get from Marsh: solid, though unspectacular, performance as part of a platoon. But his fellow starters are significantly less of a sure thing. Crawford looks the part of a contributor, but rookies are hard to predict and project. His path to the majors has been rather smooth, but the jump to the show is a hard one. It’s probably reasonable to expect him to hit some speed bumps, but it’s hard to know when, and how major those bumps will be, and how long it’ll take him to overcome them, or even whether he’ll overcome them at all. That’s not a knock on Crawford; it’s inherent to rookie-hood. García offers some uncertainty of his own: he’ll be looking to show that he can tap into his power potential and be an above-average batter after a pair of underwhelming campaigns. Bounce-backs happen, but after two seasons as a below-average batter by wRC+, García has something to prove.
Hottest take: Crawford wins Rookie of the Year
It’s been a while since a Phillie won RoY. No fresh-faced Phillie has received a vote since Alec Bohm in 2020, and no Phillie has won it since Ryan Howard in 2005. The Senior Circuit’s crop of juniors this year looks to be excellent: JJ Wetherholt is drawing raves as a future Redbird, Nolan McLean is good enough to be tapped to start the World Baseball Classic final, Tatsuya Imai is a three-time All-Star in Nippon Professional Baseball. The broader baseball world regards Justin Crawford as a promising player, but certainly not a favorite to win RoY. But he offers plenty of talent, and if his bat continues to serve him well in the bigs, his blazing speed and tendency to pilfer bases could make him a star, fast. A young, burgeoning star, the son of a star of yesteryear putting the Phillies over the top and changing the narrative around the team after a few seasons of falling short might be an irresistible narrative for voters.
Realistic take: the outfield improves, but only to middle of the pack status
Last season, the Phillies outfielders ranked 23rd league-wide by fWAR. The teams around them were mostly also-rans (though the eventual champs weren’t much better, ranking 20th with only 0.2 WAR more). The changes made to the outfield aren’t guaranteed to pay off, and it’s easy to imagine a version of the 2026 season that ends with the Phillies’ outfield in the same place, WAR-wise: Crawford struggles to adjust to big-league pitching, García has a season that looks more like his 2024 or 2025 than his 2023, etc. But Crawford is high-upside, and García’s power potential will be fearsome if he can tap into it a bit more. It wouldn’t be reasonable to expect the Phillies outfield to become a top unit in 2025, but improvement to somewhere in the neighborhood of league-average status seems plausible.
