Every team needs to have a player that isn’t quite a starter, but plays a lot more than a player considered strictly a backup. The official term is “utility player”, but it does feel like there needs to be something more than just that title.
“Not quite starter”
“Almost starter”
Whatever it is, Edmundo Sosa was the embodiment of that job, gathering over 250 plate appearances in each of the past four seasons.
2026 stats: 250 PA, .247/.283/.429, 9 HR, 44 RBI, 2.8 BB%, 21.6 K%, 89 wRC+, 0.8 fWAR
What went
right
As stated previously, each team needs a player that can fill in most anywhere. After adding outfielder to his resume in 2025, he actually started there the most this year, seeing his name on the lineup card in left field 32 times. Is that a good thing? Not really, but that’s more an indictment on the construction of the roster than anything else.
Sosa did more or less what we have expected him to do all these years he has been here. He’s played a good defense, popped a few home runs, stole a few bases, filled in where necessary.
Right?
What went wrong
Listen, we all know what Sosa is going to do when he goes to the plate. He’s going to swing as hard as possible at any baseball thrown in the vicinity of home plate. His walk rate, even in its meager form, is not a career low for him. He had one a mere tenth of a percentage point lower in 2023, so it’s not unprecedented to see him never take a walk.
It just felt like so much this year, his at bats were not truly productive ones. There would always be the occasional hit that won a game or tied a game in the past, but this year, there weren’t that many “B*tches love Sosa” moments that happened during the season. It was though we expected him to come up short and he didn’t disappoint.
There were flashes of it.
There is even plenty of evidence that Sosa might be the most well liked teammate the team has. He’s just about the perfect player for the role he fills, but there was just a feeling of wanting a little bit more from him in 2026. Each time he was exposed to more playing time, his production fell off. His defense was still fine, but it might be time to confine him to one spot and let that glove flourish.
Final grade: C+
He was just fine, hence the tick above average.
He’s probably going to convince someone to give him a starting job and to be honest, he’s earned it. So long as a team realizes that they are going to get someone whose bat will hover in the 85-95 wRC+ range, his glove should bring enough value that he can bat towards the bottom of a lineup and be productive.
Should his market never really form and the team decides to move on from Alec Bohm, there would be worse things for them to do than give Sosa a shot at starting at third base until Aidan Miller is ready to join the club (assuming he gets to the majors as a third baseman first before he becomes a shortstop).
