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CLEARWATER, Fla. – For all the talk over the past six months about Johan Rojas’ defensive impact with the Phillies, the offensive question marks in his game and his projected role when the 2024 season begins… no one knows. forget about Cristian Pache.
Few outfielders have the first step, range and instincts that Rojas possesses, but Pache is not far off as a defender. His ability to play center field was the main reason MLB.com and Baseball America considered him one of the game’s top 15 prospects heading into the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
“He’s right there with (Rojas),” manager Rob Thomson said after Thursday’s game. “He can defend at any outfield position.”
Pache didn’t hit for the Braves and didn’t hit for the A’s. The Phillies acquired him from Oakland the day before Opening Day 2023, and in a small sample of 95 plate appearances, he held his own offensively. He came to Philadelphia with a .156/.205/.234 average in 115 games. With the Phillies, he hit .238/.319/.417 with 10 extra-base hits and a league-average OPS.
Fast forward to this spring training and he has been one of the Phillies’ early offensive standouts, going 3-for-7 with two home runs, including one Thursday in Dunedin against the Blue Jays. Early Friday afternoon, he made a sensational block on a liner deep into left field from Miami’s Bryan De La Cruz.
“I feel great,” Pache said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “I’m doing my routine with Kevin Long and the rest of the coaching staff and that has given me a lot of results. I worked during the offseason until spring training.
“I feel great, I feel familiar. I can say I feel more comfortable now. I think I found something in my swing and that has been the key. I’m with my family and friends here (in Florida) and I’m trying to work hard to get a job. I feel comfortable in Philadelphia. I just try to do the best job I can to help the organization.”
Pache was on a hot streak at the plate last summer when pain in his right elbow arose due to a screw that had been inserted there in 2016. He had hit .372 with seven doubles and two home runs in his previous 47 plate appearances. to that injury. He included a game-winning pinch-hit home run in Miami just before being placed on the disabled list. He returned in September and struggled at the plate, but overall the season was a step in the right direction.
“The bat seems to keep getting better,” Thomson said. “As soon as we acquired him last year, K-Long went to work on him and started hitting left-handed. Now, it looks like he has a chance to compete right-handed.
“He’s been fantastic. He’s been letting the ball travel and using the entire field. He’s strong, he’s got power. If he gets the ball up in the air and throws strikes, he’s going to have some success.”
Comfort, as always, plays an important role. Pache didn’t have much time a year ago to get to know her new colleagues and it took a few months until her personality began to show.
Pache is trying to solidify a roster spot and potentially start more than expected in center field if Rojas doesn’t hit, but this isn’t the same kind of pressure he felt in Atlanta, where he was trying to prove he was just as good. as announced, or in Oakland, where he was the centerpiece of the A’s return of star first baseman Matt Olson.
“I can say I was a little overexcited at the time,” he said. “I tried to prove myself by doing more than I could at the moment. But right now I have a different mentality and that helped me.”
“I’m going to work hard. I have to work hard. That’s the only thing I can do and that I can control.”