Edmundo Sosa Just Played the Best Game of His Career for the Philadelphia Phillies

Rob Thomson made the surprising choice to sit Bryson Stott in favor of Edmundo Sosa, but it turned out to be the right decision.

Author:
Leo Morgenstern
Sep 7, 2022 5:05 PM EDT

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Philadelphia Phillies

One of the most wonderful things about baseball is how many ways it finds to surprise us. We can spend all day discussing and dissecting the upcoming game, determining the best moves and matchups, but often, none of that matters.

Sometimes the best strategies prove fruitless, while other times decisions that once seemed utterly foolish end up working out perfectly.

On Tuesday night, when the Philadelphia Phillies took on the Miami Marlins, it seemed completely wrong to sit Bryson Stott in favor of Edmundo Sosa. While the right-handed Sosa technically had the platoon advantage against starting pitcher Jesús Luzardo, Stott actually has much better numbers against left-handed pitching than Sosa does.

Moreover, if Stott is going to be an important part of Philadelphia's core going forward, he needs to get regular plate appearances against all kinds of pitchers.

Thus, it was a bit of a head-scratching move from manager Rob Thomson. It was hard to understand what his thought process might be. And yet...

On this particular night, putting Sosa in the starting lineup turned out to be the perfect decision. Not only did he play an important role in the Phillies victory, he may have just played the very best game of his career.

On Tuesday evening, Sosa went 2-for-2 with a double, a home run, and a walk. He scored two runs and drove in one.

It was only the second start of his career where he reached base safely every chance he got, and the first where he recorded a home run and a double in the same game.

With a perfect 1.000 on-base percentage and a 3.000 slugging percentage to go along with it, Sosa had a 4.000 OPS for the evening. It is the highest he has ever recorded in a start. He has had games with more hits, runs, and RBI, but never before a game where he made such good use of every one of his plate appearances.

By Win Probability Added (WPA), which measures how much an individual player's plate appearances impact his team's chance of winning, this was the second-best performance of Sosa's career. It falls just short of a four-hit game from last August during his tenure with the Cardinals.

However, by Context Neutral Wins (WPA adjusted for leverage), that four-hit game wasn't nearly as impressive. Sosa's performance Tuesday night, however, still ranks as the second-best of his career.

Indeed, last night's effort is the only game that ranks among his top five by both metrics. In other words, Sosa hit really well on Tuesday, and his hits played a key role in his team's victory.

Edmundo Sosa tags out Luke Williams trying to steal second base.
© Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

As if hitting a home run, a double and scoring two of the Phillies' three runs wasn't enough, Sosa also played some excellent defense at short.

Dave Dombrowski brought Sosa over for his defense, and he has not disappointed so far. On Tuesday night, he was in especially good form.

The shortstop laid down a couple strong tags to help J.T. Realmuto catch two Miami runners stealing second base, and he made a great running to end the fourth inning too.

His tag of Luke Williams in the top of the ninth was especially close, and if Sosa hadn't laid it down perfectly (and held onto the ball) Williams would have been safe at second. The Marlins very well could have taken the lead that inning were it not for Sosa's strong defensive play.

It's impossible to know what would have happened if Stott played in Sosa's place on Tuesday—baseball is full of surprises after all—but there's a good chance Philadelphia would not have won the ballgame.

Starting Sosa may not have been the smart decision, but it turned out to be the right decision. The Phillies earned another victory, and Sosa played the best game of his career.