Justin Crawford is one of the top prospects in the Phillies organization. (Cheryl Pursell)
The Phillies will host Skip Schumaker's Texas Rangers on March 26 at Citizens Bank Park to begin their 2026 season. Here's our first crack at projecting what Rob Thomson's lineup will look like on Opening Day against either Jacob deGrom or Nathan Eovaldi.
Turner is coming off of his best season as a Phillie, as he won the NL batting title by hitting .304 with 31 doubles, seven triples and 36 stolen bases. It is concerning that a player who is so dependent on speed has had hamstring injuries in consecutive seasons, but the 32-year-old is definitely going to lead off to open his fourth campaign in red pinstripes.
Harper's agent, Scott Boras, suggested to MLB.com's Todd Zolecki on Oct. 22 that one way to get Harper back to being an elite performer would be to get him more pitches to hit. Having the reigning NL MVP runner-up hit behind him might do the trick.
Indeed, Thomson acknowledged on Dec. 9 at the MLB Winter Meetings that he's "thought long and hard about" potentially having Harper hit second, with Schwarber protecting him. He did add that he hadn't yet spoken to Schwarber and Harper about it.
Harper has traditionally preferred to hit third, but beggars can't be choosers. If he wants to see more pitches to hit, this is the best way to do it.
It does seem a little weird to mess with where Schwarber is hitting in the lineup after he hit 56 home runs and earned a new five-year/$150 million deal. Then again, the Phillies won a lot of games with him hitting leadoff and still moved off of that, so he's clearly flexible.
Is it ideal to have a hitter who has posted a .675 OPS over the last two seasons bat cleanup? No, but the Phillies gave García $10 million with the belief that Kevin Long can help him rebound. The version of García that hit 97 home runs and posted a .777 OPS between 2021 and 2023 would be the best cleanup hitter on the Phillies.
Alec Bohm is the other option to hit cleanup, and the Phillies could roll with that because they don't want García to try to be a hero, particularly as he faces his former team to begin the season. But it might be throwing a bone to the fanbase to try someone new in the cleanup spot on Opening Day.
For as bad of a taste as the 2025 postseason left in your taste regarding Marsh, he hit .300 with an .838 OPS against right-handed pitching last season. If there's a right-handed pitcher on the mound, he's an appropriate person to have hitting in the middle of the order.
Given that Bohm is projected by MLB Trade Rumors to make $10.3 million in his final year of arbitration eligibility, the former No. 3 overall pick seemed to be a logical trade candidate entering the offseason.
But while a market could emerge for him once Alex Bregman, Eugenio Suárez and Bo Bichette come off the board, the Phillies might have trouble finding a better option to replace him by that point. If they want to keep third base open for the potential mid-season callup of Aidan Miller, Bohm might prove to be the best bridge option. If Bohm is having a strong season and Miller is ready to be called up in, say, July, the Phillies can cross that bridge then.
Working with Long, Stott revived his career during the 2025 season by limiting the bat waggle he had done prior to his swing. The results were that after the All-Star Break, Stott hit .294 with an .855 OPS, a massive improvement from the .234 batting average and .637 OPS he posted in the first half. He and Edmundo Sosa are a strong platoon at second base.
At the time of publication, J.T. Realmuto isn't under contract for the Phillies, nor have they added another veteran option to replace him. So right now, Marchán is the projected starting catcher.
The Phillies were very happy with Marchán's preparation last season, and if given consistent at-bats, the switch hitter probably could get into more of a rhythm than he did when he hit .210 over 105 sporadic at-bats last season. Whether he would be up to the workload of being a starting catcher is fair to wonder given some of the injuries he dealt with as a minor leaguer.
There are legitimate concerns about how much Crawford has hit the ball on the ground as a minor leaguer, but it's hard to argue with the results. As a 21-year-old, he hit .334 with an .863 OPS and 46 stolen bases at Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
He's earned a shot at the majors, and I would anticipate whether it's in center field, left field or some combination, the Phillies will run Crawford out pretty consistently near the bottom of the lineup for the first three months of the season.
