May be Brandon Marsh will stand in center field when Phillies begins next season at Nationals Park in Washington. Or maybe it will be Johan Rojas.

But would you be surprised if it’s neither?

In eight seasons, the Phillies have walked eight center fielders on Opening Day, including Rojas this year and Marsh last. There was Matt Vierling in 2022, Adam Haseley in 21, Roman Quinn in 20, Odúbel Herrera in 19 and Aaron Altherr (remember him?) in 18. Somehow Mickey Moniak missed the list. Scott Kingery certainly would have made it if he hadn’t started from a different position.

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The Phillies are currently trying to diversify a lineup which has become too homogeneous with hitters not leaving pitches outside the strike zone. The “obviously” as president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski say, bringing discipline to the plate means making a change to left field or center, where an inflexible roster isn’t bogged down by big salaries.

It’s quite possible, then, that the center field door will continue to rotate.

“We’re in a position where, logically, (the field) is the only place, from a player position standpoint, that you’re going to look to upgrade in that regard,” Dombrowski said this week at the GMs’ meetings at San. Antonio. “We still have some time to make decisions about what we are going to do. But that’s the logical area for us.”

If the Phillies can sign a lefty, they could slide Marsh into center every day or as the more dominant (lefty-hitting) part of a platoon with Rojas. If they sign a centre-back, Marsh could stay on the left.

But it’s not quite that simple. The inventory of lefties, especially those with the skills the Phillies want, is limited. Beyond $500 million (and probably more) the man Juan SotoTeoscar Hernández and Anthony Santander are power hitters with similar follow tendencies as many of the Phillies hitters.

The best fit might be Jurickson Profar, a contact hitter with strike zone awareness. But his .839 OPS last season was 127 points better than his mark over the last eight (.712). And he’s a poor defender.

” READ MORE: Dave Dombrowski says the Phillies have an “open” approach to the offseason. How about revisiting a trade for Garrett Crochet?

Center field, historically a premium position, is largely a wasteland. A generation after Ken Griffey Jr., Andruw Jones, Bernie Williams, Jim Edmonds, Kenny Lofton, Carlos Beltrán and Torii Hunter, the league-wide OPS in center field has dipped this season to .697, the second-lowest mark in 1989 and the seventh-lowest since 1912. In 2024, the only positions that produced a lower OPS were catcher and second base.

So the Phillies aren’t alone in not fixing the middle of the field.

“I think teams have really prioritized the defensive value in center field, so maybe just the type of talent that’s out there has changed a little bit,” White Sox general manager Chris Getz said. “There’s not a well of well-rounded center fielders that can hit and defend coming up through the systems or just around the league in general.”

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington said: “If you have really good defense in the middle, it can add up to wins. And we see some teams, think maybe the Rays, where they’ve been without pretty defensive-oriented center fielders on teams that have won a lot of games. But everyone is also looking for Mike Trout in his prime.”

Even Trout, an all-time great center fielder, may no longer be viable at the position. After missing 382 of 648 games over the past four seasons, he has informed the Angels that he is willing to move to a corner outfield spot if it helps him stay healthy.

Some teams still see center field as a source of offense. After trading him last winter for Soto, the Yankees moved Aaron Judge to center, even though he’s 32 and a better defender in right, where there’s less ground to cover and not as much wear on legs.

The Padres successfully moved Fernando Tatis Jr. from shortstop in right field a few years ago, so they trusted prospect Jackson Merrill in center field this year. Merrill, who was blocked at shortstop by Ha-Seong Kim and Xander Bogaerts, hit 25 homers with an .826 OPS and provided league-average defense.

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“Putting the offense up the middle is a real thing,” Padres president of baseball operations AJ Preller said. “It’s a big advantage when you have a catcher, a shortstop, a center fielder who can hit. Jackson, center field was a spot (of need), and he was willing to do it, and our team believed he could do it. But it wasn’t like, ‘Hey, put him in center field because the league is down in center field.’

It does, however, help explain why the White Sox didn’t sell low on Luis Robert Jr. at the trade deadline – and it might not be this winter either.

An All-Star in 2023, Robert’s stock dipped amid an unproductive and injury-riddled season (.657 OPS). But he is still a central player. So even though the White Sox just set a major league record with 121 losses and Robert is under contract next season with $20 million club options for 2026 and 2027, they can at least hold out until July and hope it will rebuild its value in the interim.

“When you look at Luis Robert and what he’s capable of doing, both the offensive and defensive potential, it’s still very appealing,” Getz said. “It was a difficult year. He was dealt a tough hand, given the (hip) injury. But we’ve been around him long enough and we remain believers that he can be an All-Star center fielder.”

Phillies officials think they have next center field is in the organization, two steps away from the majors. They’re bullish on 20-year-old Justin Crawford, who has averaged big at every level of the system through double-A since being drafted in the first round in 2022. The final touch to his development will be driving more balls . into gaps rather than hitting them on the ground.

If Crawford can do that early next season, Dombrowski isn’t averse to pushing a young player to the big leagues. With the Red Sox, he called up Andrew Benintendi from Double-A in 2016 and Rafael Devers after just nine games in Triple-A in 2017.

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“I’m not sure as we go into spring training that we’re going to rely on him as one of our big league starters, but he’s got a lot of skill,” Dombrowski said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if it came anytime (next season).”

While they wait for Crawford, there are signs the Phillies will be opportunistic in the trade market. Dombrowski described the team’s approach as “open.” Last month, he noted that teams “sometimes trade good players for good players.” And he said this week that he’s gotten more calls than usual about players on the Phillies’ roster.

If the Phillies like the idea of ​​Profar in left field, they could flip Marsh for late inning relief and go with Rojas’ defense in center. (The Brewers could reach for Devin Williams; the Cardinals could hang on to Ryan Helsley.)

Marsh’s future remains a fascinating subject. Entering his age-27 season, he continues to strike out in nearly a third of his plate appearances and hasn’t hit enough lefties to be an everyday player. But he is superb on the left and a solid centre-back. With three more seasons in control of the club, he believes he has strong trade value.

For all of those reasons, though, he also has value for the Phillies.

“Sometimes you have to say, ‘Hey, we’re just going to trot him out and let him play every day,'” Dombrowski said “We’re not really at the point where we’re going to do that? But at some point we’re going to have to say, “OK, here it is. It’s yours.”

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Or maybe they’ll let another team make that decision, especially if Crawford is a closer.

“I can’t tell you that sometime this winter I’m not saying, ‘OK, we’re just going to give (Marsh) the opportunity,'” Dombrowski said. “It might depend on how we look as a team otherwise. … If you’re out there talking to clubs and you make another trade, that could change (needs) elsewhere. So how do we put all these pieces together on this?”

Especially at a time in the sport when all-purpose outfielders are so few and far between.