Roman Quinn likely sneaks his way into the Phillies Opening Day lineup

A second-round pick wayyy back in 2011, the Phillies simply haven’t found it within themselves to part ways with Roman Quinn.

Despite the organization undergoing multiple changes in the front office since his initial drafting, the speedy outfielder has continuously found a way to keep his name involved when it comes to the direction of the franchise. At first glance, it makes a semblance of sense. Quinn is arguably the fastest player in all of baseball, and he doesn’t turn 28 until later this year in May. He’s a constant threat to steal every time he gets on base, and his raw quickness paints the picture of someone who could excel defensively in center field.

However, despite all the athletic traits that Quinn possesses, he’s never been able to put it all together. He’s often found himself on the injured list, and even when healthy, he’s repeatedly struggled to make contact at the plate.

Across 150 games and 450 career plate appearances in the major leagues, Quinn is slashing .235/.306/.364. Not great.

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Quinn hasn’t fared much better defensively either, as his career defensive WAR sits at just 0.1, with his 2019 and 2020 seasons falling in the negative range. Despite all his speed and agility, Quinn’s inability to properly read fly balls in center field has often led to errors and unnecessarily allowed runs.

However, despite all of the baggage that he may bring along with him, Quinn is likely the lead candidate when it comes to who starts at center field for the Phils on Opening Day. He edged out the likes of Scott Kingery and Odubel Herrera when it came to making the official roster this spring, and with lefty Max Fried on the mound for Atlanta, one can only assume that Adam Haseley will operate off the bench for game one of the 2021 season.

In fact, this was a fairly common tactic for Joe Girardi to employ in 2020. Quinn played in 41/60 games last year, primarily due to Girardi’s unwillingness to turn things over to Haseley as the everyday center fielder. As much as fans (and myself) would like to see Haseley out in CF for the majority of the upcoming season, odds are that the Phillies want to “platoon” the position once more.

While Fried vs Quinn isn’t necessarily a matchup that favors the Phillies, Fried does in fact tend to struggle a bit going up against right-handed batters compared to left-handed ones. Fried has an allowed batting average of .263 when pitching to righties, compared to .232 when facing lefties.

At least from a statistical side of things, Quinn getting the nod out in CF on Thursday makes sense.

Roman Quinn will likely be the Phillies Opening Day CF.

While I’m sure a majority of you immediately rolled your eyes at the thought of Roman Quinn being the Phillies’ Opening Day center fielder here in 2021 (trust me I’m no Quinn supporter myself), there’s also a sense of untapped potential when it comes to the speedy outfielder. Primarily due to injuries, he’s played just 150 total games since debuting back in 2016. Albeit unlikely, Quinn could in all honesty put together a half-decent 2021 season should he stay healthy for the full 162 game campaign.

He could easily record a 30-40 steal season, and his defense would likely benefit from some sense of health consistency.

Regardless of if he stays healthy or not this year, my very educated guess on the matter is that he’ll be out in CF for Opening Day this week. Whether that decision pays off for Joe Girardi or not, only time will tell.