Phillies Give Rojas Second Consecutive Day Off

usatsi_22715244

The Philadelphia Phillies won their second game in a row on Thursday when beating the Pittsburgh Pirates to push their record over .500 for the first time all season.

The offense found their power with three homers that put five runs on the board, something that has been sorely lacking so far.

What stood out to many people Thursday was that Johan Rojas was not in the Phillies’ lineup for the opener. That’s not unusual, given he had played a lot and they were looking to try something new for the upcoming series by shifting things around.

However, sitting the young center fielder for the second consecutive game on Friday certainly raises some eyebrows.

It’s no secret that Rojas has been struggling offensively. He’s slashing just .161/.235/.194 with only one extra-base hit and one RBI.

But the timing for this was strange.

He’s coming off the best series of his season so far against the St. Louis Cardinals when he went 4-9 with the lone RBI.

Yet, Philadelphia isn’t giving Rojas the opportunity to build off that nice stretch by carrying things over into this series.

“Just a little bit [of a re-set]. Just let him sit and watch for a minute. He’s been playing a lot, so it’s not going to hurt him to have a couple days off. He’ll be back in there [Saturday],” manager Rob Thomson said according to Paul Hagen of NBC Sports Philadelphia.

Maybe this really is what Rojas needs.

After all, it’s easy to lose confidence at the plate when things aren’t going well, especially for a 23-year-old who only has 83 total Major League games under his belt.

Hopefully this time off does help the young center fielder and he can put together some respectable performances on offense that guarantees his defense will be in the game.