Sosa 'all in' to try his hand at center field this spring

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Edmundo Sosa has created quite a highlight reel as the Phillies’ most talented infielder.

So it was interesting to see him working recently with Phillies first base coach Paco Figueroa, who also is the team’s outfield coach. The Phillies, who have their first full squad workout Tuesday, have relatively few issues to resolve this spring. One of them is finding somebody to back up Brandon Marsh in center field.

Sosa might be the guy. The Phillies traded Matt Vierling to Detroit last month to help them acquire reliever Gregory Soto. It left them with Dalton Guthrie, Jake Cave, Simon Muzziotti and Johan Rojas as potential center-field backups. Rojas and Muzziotti are prospects and unlikely to get serious consideration. Cave hits left-handed, the same as Marsh. Guthrie hits right-handed, but he does not have much big league experience.

“We’re going to experiment a little bit,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Monday afternoon at BayCare Ballpark. “We’re going to get Sosa some work in the outfield, especially in center field. We think he can do it.”

It seems every spring a team asks an outfielder to take ground balls in the infield or an infielder to take fly balls in the outfield.

You know, just in case.

But Thomson said this experiment is real. They really want to see if Sosa can play center field. He will play there this spring.

“We think because of his athleticism and intelligence, we think he can play,” Thomson said.

If Sosa looks good, he could see time there in the regular season. Last season, Marsh played mostly against right-handed pitchers, including the postseason. He has a career .732 OPS against right-handers, and a career .519 OPS against lefties. The Phillies said they expect Marsh’s playing time this season against lefties to increase to a point.

“We’re looking for a right-handed guy to take that spot [in center] every once in a while,” Thomson said. “But having said that, [Sosa is] still an infielder and a really good one. We’re not taking that away from him at all.”

Thomson said he broached the idea with Sosa about a month ago.

“He was all in,” Thomson said. “In fact, the way that he answered the question, it almost seemed like he had already thought about it.”

The Phillies have two bench jobs available, beyond catcher Garrett Stubbs and utility players Sosa and Josh Harrison.

Guthrie, Cave, Darick Hall and Kody Clemens are the top candidates for those spots. Thomson said he plans to rotate the team’s designated hitter, until Bryce Harper returns in June or July. It might place more emphasis on positional versatility, although Hall made a strong case for himself last summer as the team’s DH while Harper was out. Hall has worked this spring in the outfield, too.