Is rookie Nick Maton the answer to Phillies pitching woes?

By the end of six weeks, it was clear the Philadelphia Phillies rotation was a bit worse than they had hoped. The better of the two pitchers signed to fill the fourth and fifth slots, Chase Anderson, was showing what used to be called “moxie,” but he was only 2-3, and the other guy, Matt Moore, had managed to injure himself, and was then relegated to bullpen duty.

Moore had been replaced by Vince Velasquez for a couple of starts, and Vinny did what Vinny has done for a while – battled, threw too many pitches, and in general, made Phillies fans mutter unpleasantries.

(The Phillies have always seemed to specialize in “battling pitchers” who are ultimately disappointments. A most recent, high-profile example was the tenure in Philly of former Cy Young awardee Jake Arrieta.)

Could a rookie reserve infielder provide the solution to the Phillies starter problems?

This all leads to these questions: If the Phillies can manage to stay on the tail of the Mets, or pass them, will they make a move toward improving their starters? And if so, how? The luxury tax threshold is a concern, and no one really knows what the team ownership might do if the Phillies are tied for all practical purposes for the division lead near the trade deadline.

The answer in a roundabout way may be sitting down near the end of their bench. “Nick Maton,” as a game show host once yelled, “come on down!”

Don’t worry, we’re not suggesting a trade of the young infielder who’s becoming a fan favorite for his play and his grin. No, at best a trade of Maton would be Plan B, or preferably, Plan C – still a possibility, but why should the Phillies trade a young (inexpensive) player who has surprised everyone by playing “over his head” for his time so far with the team?

Instead, and there’s plenty of time until the trade deadline to work on this, the Phillies should be shopping veteran infielder Jean Segura in exchange for a new starter, or for no player near his equal value in order to bank the money still owed him by contract, maybe half of nearly $15 million this year, and then the same-sized full contract for 2022, at minimum. (There’s a team option for ’23.)

This is not because Segura is a problem as a player; he’s not. In fact, he may never have more trade value in his 30s than now. Having just turned 31, he has come out of a recent, brief spell on the injured list hitting well, and .333 overall for the young season.

And Maton could replace him at second.

Failing that, the Phillies could consider trading Didi Gregorius, who is owed nearly as much as Segura, and Maton could replace him as shortstop, though keeping the left-handed-hitting Gregorius, who generally exhibits better power than both Segura and Maton, might rule this out.

All of this would depend on moving either, but definitely not both of these expensive infielders, and Maton continuing to perform well. None of these notions is a slam-dunk, of course, but the 24-year-old infielder has demonstrated he can play well every day at least in the short term when he replaced Segura in Philadelphia’s lineup.

Maton had never played above the Double-A level until called on by the Phils on Apr. 19. After play on May 13, he was hitting .299, a batting average he had not equaled since he was 19 and playing for Eastern Illinois in the Ohio Valley Conference.

In that afternoon’s game, which the Philadelphia lost, 5-1, Maton had laced a line-drive single to right field. He has not yet made an error in 163 innings involving 68 chances in MLB play.

Nick Maton may be the player the Phillies should take a risk on to solve a problem.