Philadelphia Phillies Superstar Working With Youngster After Hitting Struggles

One of the Philadelphia Phillies' high-priced players has started helping out one of the young guys who has been struggling early on.

Apr 8, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Philadelphia Phillies center fielder Johan Rojas (18) / Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

There's a good argument to be made that the Philadelphia Phillies wouldn't have made another deep postseason run in 2023 if they hadn't called up Johan Rojas.

Prior to his promotion, they had one of the worst outfield defenses in all of baseball with Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber at the corners. Putting Rojas in center allowed the Phillies to move Brandon Marsh to left and put their slugger back into his normal designated hitter role.

They got hot in the second half and were one game away from their second straight World Series appearance.

But, perhaps one of the reasons why they weren't able to make the Fall Classic again was because of Rojas' offense in the playoffs.

The 23-year-old went 4-43 with 15 strikeouts, pretty much being an automatic out in their lineup.

He started 2024 in a similar way, getting only one hit in his first eight games before breaking through with a three-hit day.

Since that point, Rojas hasn't exactly been a formidable offensive threat, but he's had more games with a hit than without one.

With a clubhouse full of accomplished players who have won MVP awards, earned All-Star selections, and Silver Sluggers, it would be easy for them to look down upon the youngster who hasn't quite proven he's capable of competing at the plate.

Instead, Rojas' work ethic has endeared himself to his teammates and had one of the most high-profile players helping him out in the batting cage.

"I talked to him in the cage for a while today and we worked on a couple things, and felt like they showed up pretty immediately," superstar Trea Turner said according to Tim Kelly of Phillies Nation.

On the day that the shortstop is talking about, the center fielder put up the second-best hitting performance of his season, going 2-3 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base. His double was blasted off the outfield wall, coming close to being his first long ball of the year.

This is a testament to both players and the culture that Philadelphia has in place.

Turner signed an 11-year, $300 million deal last winter, and after getting off to a slow start in his debut season, he could have easily just focused on himself and not worried about anyone else.

He didn't do that.

Rojas also could have gotten frustrated or discouraged to the point where he stopped putting in the work.

That didn't happen either.

"I think he's pretty relaxed. He just wants to play well just like anybody. I don't think he's necessarily pressing, he's just trying to find his way ... I like having conversations with guys. You don't know how the conversation is going to start, and you don't know where it's going to end up. But we talked for a while and just kind of, I'm learning him, he's learning me type deal. It was a good conversation," Turner added.

If anyone knows about overcoming slow starts in a Phillies uniform it's the star shortstop.

Hopefully he and Rojas continue to work together so that the talented defensive center fielder can bring an element of offense to his game that would transform him into one of the best players at his position.