When the big stars arrive in camp, there is a rush to get their first on camera interview of the season out of the way. As the biggest of stars in Clearwater, whenever Bryce Harper makes his first appearance, one knows it is going to be news worthy. His interview touched on a myriad of topics like the spending of the Dodgers, the comments made this winter by Dave Dombrowski, but then it got into lineup order.
One of the things the team is going to have figure out is who is hitting fourth in the cleanup position behind Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. One would assume that those three are going to be the initial trio in any game they play this season, making the cleanup spot rather important. Harper was not very subtle with his thoughts about last year’s cleanup spot production.
“I think it’s a huge impact in the four spot,” Harper said. “I mean, I think anybody. It doesn’t matter if it’s me or (Kyle Schwarber). Because if Schwarbs is hitting there, same things are going to happen, right? So I think four spot’s a huge impact. I think the numbers in the four spot weren’t very good last year for our whole team. Whoever is in that four spot is going to have a big job to do, depending on who’s hitting three.”
There are not potshots taken at anyone in particular. These kinds of comments should be seen as a realistic look at where they are at with their roster. There is no secret that the team does not have the prototypical cleanup hitter on the roster right now that is also right handed, which makes achieving the desired balance the team is looking for difficult. While Schwarber has always felt like he is best suited for that role, it seems pretty obvious that the lineup works well with him among the first three, so maybe that is where he needs to slotted most often.
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That makes it imperative the team finds a cleanup hitter that works. Rob Thomson has already talked about what he is looking for from that position in the lineup.
Using Alec Bohm there is something Thomson has done frequently in the past, citing his contact ability as a plus for the job as something that he likes. His 2025 season in the cleanup spot (.216/.262/.309) are not ones that would leap out as the best choice to hit behind the first three. It could have been something of a bad season though as his 2024 numbers (.283/.330/.440) and 2023 numbers (.253/.318/.392) were markedly better, yet still fall short of what one would expect from a hitter in that spot in the lineup.
The problem is that they may not have much of a choice. The other two options mentioned, Adolis Garcia and J.T. Realmuto, aren’t exactly shining beacons of offensive production either. Realmuto had 180 plate appearances out of the cleanup spot last year with almost this very same lineup and hit .238/.302/.381. Garcia, down with the Rangers, had 320 plate appearances out of the cleanup spot and was barely much better, hitting .224/.263/.399. From both of these options, a bright light of hope does not seem to be appearing.
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The issue of which player is best suited as a cleanup hitter is going to be something the team has to be trying out in spring training. Making any kind of long term decisions during spring at bats might be a bit of fool’s errand with all of the different arms that are going to be used in opposition to the Phillies’ lineup. We don’t want to base any critical roster decisions on how well Adolis Garcia does facing arms that will eventually begin the season in Single-A levels. Yet how each one appears will be another data point that can be used in the decision making.
The real test will be convincing the clubhouse that things should be tried early and often in the beginning of the season to determine what is the best fit. If Thomson needs to try out different combinations of lineups to best figure out which one to use moving forward, there has to be real conversation with the players about that. The ultimate goal of the lineup is to score runs and if doing so in the best manner means that some players are hitting in roles they haven’t really been in for some time, so be it. Maybe the best option for a lineup is have Trea Turner-Bryce Harper-Alec Bohm-Kyle Schwarber be the first four to face the opposition, maybe it isn’t. Maybe one of these three right handed hitters that Thomson has talked about takes a step forward and produces like many believe a cleanup hitter should.
The real cleanup hitter will be determined as the season progresses. It’s possible that the player with the most plate appearances there hasn’t been identified yet. That is what the coaching staff should be figuring out this spring, not worrying about the handedness just yet.
