
Rob Thomson Discusses Phillies Lineup Thoughts for 2025 Season
The first official Phillies workout is 12 days away, and one of the bigger questions coming into this season is Rob Thomson’s construction of the starting lineup.
The “Kyle Schwarber shouldn’t hit leadoff” crowd (which I am not a part of) took a nice victory lap after the Phillies fell to the Mets in the NLDS. They’ve won at an insanely-high clip the last three years when Schwarber has hit 1st, but a shuffle could be in the cards this spring.
Rob Thomson joined Todd Zolecki, Jim Salisbury, and Ruben Amaro Jr. on the most recent episode of The Phillies Show and talked about his thoughts on the lineup, mentioning that they’ll try different things in Spring Training. Check out the full podcast here:
If it wasn’t Schwarber leading off, Thomson’s first name was Trea Turner. Bryson Stott’s plate discipline gives him a shot to maybe give the leadoff spot a shot, but Thomson was hesitant about Stott leading off due to the lefty-heavy Phillies lineup. Thomson mentioned the possibility of basically having two different lineups, which is starting to become a common thing in baseball. Having a lineup that goes out there against lefties, and having a lineup that goes out against righties. It’s something that the Baltimore Orioles did last year, and it worked really well. The manager also talked about possibly moving Schwarber behind Harper on some days, which could maybe slide Bryce up into the 2-hole. Once again…nothing is set in stone, and the manager said that the Phillies will try a lot of different options down in Clearwater…but something to monitor as we gear up for another Phillies season.
Rob Thomson said on @ThePhilliesShow that he’s had some conversations with some guys already about the lineup. Said they’ll try some different things in Spring Training.
Doesn’t seem like he’s going to change it just because, but they’ll try some things out in Clearwater.
— Luke Arcaini (@ArcainiLuke) January 31, 2025