Does Johan Rojas’s ongoing offensive troubles mean he’s headed for Triple-A?

Johan Rojas may still be the in the Opening Day lineup for the Philadelphia Phillies, but nothing he’s shown offensively so far in Grapefruit League play has cemented his status as the team’s starting center fielder to begin the season.

A sluggish spring at the plate continued for Rojas Sunday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Pirates, as he went 0-for-4. He was credited with an RBI on a fielder’s choice in the top of the third inning, but he appeared to get a favorable call from the first-base umpire, who called him safe, rather than out as he looked to be.

Had he been called out at first, it would have been an inning-ending double play. Instead, he reached first base, but only briefly as Pittsburgh starter Quinn Priester picked him off shortly thereafter to end the frame.

In his three other at-bats, Rojas was thrown out at first base on a swinging bunt, retired on a shallow fly to center field and thrown out at first base on an actual bunt attempt. (It should be noted that manager Rob Thomson said postgame he’s telling Rojas before one at-bat every game that he will be bunting during that plate appearance.) On the spring, he now has just five hits in 34 at-bats, for a .147 batting average.

“I think it’s gonna come, it’s a bit of an overhaul here,” Thomson said of Rojas’ offensive struggles postgame. “So it’s not syncing up his lower half, as I talked about the last couple of days. He’ll get it.”

It’s often not wise to make much of Spring Training results, but when Rojas has made contact this spring, it has typically been of the soft variety. It’s not as though he’s hitting the ball hard and running into bad luck. And it’s especially concerning in that in feels like a carryover from last postseason, when he hit .093 in 14 playoff games for the Phillies.

Granted, Rojas did hit .302 across his first 59 MLB games last regular season. But there were always some warning signs that his early success at the plate wasn’t going to continue. Rojas’ batting average on balls in play was .410 a year ago, which was an unsustainable clip when you consider that the league average is “around .300.”

Since the start of last postseason, Rojas’ offensive output has plummeted. The biggest problem is he doesn’t provide a ton of value offensively if he’s not getting hits. He’s lightning fast, but that’s a moot point if he’s not on base. And he isn’t some who works long counts or draws many walks, as he had just five walks in 164 plate appearances a season ago.