Phillies Offensive Issues Revolve Around Production in Center Field

It has been an amazing recent stretch for the Philadelphia Phillies, but the team still has some looming issues from last season.

Coming into the winter, the Phillies were focused on making a couple of improvements to what became glaring issues after losing to the New York Mets in the National League Division Series.

Of their notable moves, the only one that has really be a great one so far has been the acquisition of Jesus Luzardo from the Miami Marlins. Unfortunately, Jordan Romano and Max Kepler have both had some struggles this year so far.

Both the bullpen and the outfield were the two major areas of issues for Philadelphia in the NLDS, and they remain a problem this year.

Fortunately, despite these issues, the Phillies are one of the best teams in the league this campaign. However, one area especially they need to address.

Can Philadelphia Fix Center Field Woes?

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the struggles for the Phillies to get positive offensive production out of center field, which was an issue last year as well.

“For the year, though, the Phillies have gotten a .617 OPS out of the CF spot in the lineup, which is typically buried in the 9-hole to keep the self-inflicted damage to a minimum," he wrote.

Aside from Nick Castellanos in the outfield last year in the postseason, Philadelphia received nearly zero offensive production from other starters.

Despite having a very good lineup, the glaring issues for this unit proved to be an issue. Not having the bottom of the lineup contributing on offense made the Phillies far too dependent on the top of the order to deliver.

This season, that issue persists. Phillies center fielders have a slash of .225/.291/.303 with two home runs and 20 RBI.

With the window of opportunity to win a World Series still open for Philadelphia, they must make the necessary adjustments to help ensure that this team is as prepared as possible for a playoff run.

Before the deadline, that is going to mean getting another productive bat to help them in the outfield.

The combination of Brandon Marsh, Johan Rojas, and Kepler isn’t getting the job done, and adding another proven starter who can help provide some offense is needed.

While the bullpen also needs some help after the suspension of Jose Alvarado, it is the outfield that is arguably more of a pressing need.

Philadelphia has already been leaning heavily on Kyle Schwarber in the batting order to carry the offense at times, and the front office must be aggressive on the trade market to bring in some help in either center or left field.