The Philadelphia Phillies are off to a hot 3-1 start to the season, and they’ve been getting incredible production from an unheralded source. 29-year-old Edmundo Sosa is ripping the cover off the ball, drawing the attention of slugger Kyle Schwarber after a game-winning hit on Monday.“He goes about it the right way. He’s a one-of-a-kind, special talent,” Schwarber said of Sosa.

Sosa went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI in the Phillies’ 6-1 home-opening victory over the Colorado Rockies. His two-run double in the seventh inning ended the Rockies’ shutout bid and gave Philadelphia a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. The veteran now has six hits in 11 at-bats on the season. While he doesn’t have a home run yet, he does have three doubles and three RBI.

In addition to Sosa’s hot bat, Schwarber was among three Phillies to homer on Monday. Schwarber brought Sosa home on his seventh-inning dinger, and then Max Kepler and Nick Castellanos went back-to-back in the eighth inning.

This is Sosa’s fourth season with the Phillies. The utility player has never been all that prolific at the dish, but he has been a key depth piece the last two seasons. The 29-year-old appeared in 90 games last season and racked up 2.3 WAR after playing 104 games in 2023. He started his career with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Philadelphia will need all the help it can get to win the NL East this season. While the Atlanta Braves are off to a rancid 0-5 start, one has to expect they’ll make a run at some point once Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuna Jr. return, even with Jurickson Profar now out 80 games due to a PED suspension. Then of course there’s Juan Soto and the New York Mets, who are off to a 2-2 start. The Miami Marlins currently sit in second place at 3-2, with the Phillies alone in first.