Sosa was the Philadelphia Phillies' Most Important Acquisition of the Trade Deadline

Utility man Edmundo Sosa means more to the Philadelphia Phillies than he could to any other team.

Author:
Ben Silver
Oct 19, 2022 3:00 PM EDT

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The Philadelphia Phillies could not have asked for more production down the stretch from the least flashy of their deadline maneuvers.

That said, Edmundo Sosa won't keep up his second-half production going forward. The .937 OPS he posted as a Phillie simply isn't in his repertoire. That said, he'll still be a wildly productive productive player even when he isn't hitting like a Hall of Famer.

Offense and defense aren't the only skills that give a player value. Each player on a championship team is a jigsaw piece, fitting into the roster evenly with the others around him.

Every team needs a balance of offense and defense, with steady numbers of left-handed hitters and right-handed hitters at each position. Sosa is the final piece of the puzzle for the Phillies.

He's not as good a player as Bryson Stott or Alec Bohm. The ability he boasts is far below the pedigree of either player, but unlike Bohm, Sosa plays outstanding defense, and unlike Stott, Sosa is a right-handed hitter.

When Sosa subs in for Bohm, he makes up for Bohm's shortcoming in both speed and defense, as the team witnessed against the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLWCS. When Sosa takes over for Stott, the defense receives a more marginal boost, but it's enough to make a difference even when Sosa isn't hitting well.

Though it's a very small sample size, Sosa has been worth five outs above average at shortstop in 2022, Stott has been worth -3. It's clear the Phillies former top prospect is more suited to second base, but he can fill in at shortstop until the Phillies have a better option.

Looking at his splits, one would think Stott was better served without a platoon-mate at shortstop. He has reverse splits, slashing .226/.282/.342 against righties and .263/.336/.414 against lefties.

But as we're all used to hearing, 'sample size shmample size'.

Stott has a BABIP of .358 against lefties and a BABIP of .252 against righties. Thus, the trend will reverse as Stott plays more games. Even more telling is his strikeout rate against lefties, 27.3%. Against right-handed pitchers it's only 16.6% and he's hit home runs once every 44.5 plate appearances. Against left-handed pitchers he hits home runs once every 55 plate appearances.

Despite his platoon OPS, Stott sees righties better and a better at-bat versus opposite handed pitchers, as nearly every Major League player is.

Analyzing at Sosa's platoon stats on the surface poses the same question. For his career, Sosa's OPS against lefties is actually lower than than his OPS against righties, .691 to .703. But that is forgoing a very important piece of data, Sosa can't hit funky left-handed relievers.

Against left-handed starters, with more natural deliveries, Sosa slashes .264/.333/.425 for a .758 OPS compared to a .667 OPS against right-handed starters. If Sosa could hit all pitchers as well as he hits left-handed starters he'd be one of the leagues most valuable players, akin to Andrelton Simmons at his peak.

The Phillies found their diamond in the rough with Sosa, a cast-off from St. Louis who didn't realize what they had.

Despite picking up Brandon Marsh, Noah Syndergaard and David Robertson in more flashy deadline moves, Sosa could prove to be the most important piece of the puzzle going forward.