The Phillies are eyeing an infusion of youth for 2026. Here’s how three top prospects can fit.

When he looks up from assembling the Phillies’ roster, Dave Dombrowski watches sports. One thing recently caught his eye. The Golden State Warriors are poised to open the NBA season with four starters who are 35 or older.

“It’s never happened before,” he said.

Dombrowski, the team’s president of baseball operations, brought this up Thursday, midway through his 54-minute news conference in Citizens Bank Park, to make a point: Aging teams can contend for titles.

It’s relevant because if the Phillies achieve their offseason priority of re-signing free agents Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto, who will be 33 and 35 next season, at least four of the top hitters in the projected opening-day lineup will be 32 or older and locked up to multiyear contracts. It would be so uncommon that Schwarber joked about it several months ago.

» READ MORE: Phillies offseason preview: Futures of Schwarber, Realmuto, and time for a youth movement?

“We would love to all finish our careers together,” he said. “But who would want to come out and want to watch a bunch of 40-year-old dudes play baseball? Right?”

Warriors fans might not mind the basketball version, but there’s a notable difference. Whereas Stephen Curry and Draymond Green won four championships together before teaming with Jimmy Butler and Al Horford, the Phillies’ core — Bryce Harper (33), Trea Turner (32), Schwarber, Realmuto, and pitchers Zack Wheeler (35) and Aaron Nola (32) — is still title-less.

The Phillies are coming off 96 wins, 95 last season, and 90 the year before. It would be irrational to blow it all up based on one bad week in each of the last three Octobers and impractical given all the long contractual commitments made by Dombrowski and owner John Middleton.

But in addition to an eyebrow-raising challenge to Harper — “I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or if he continues to be good. ... I’ve seen guys at his age that level off, or I’ve seen guys rise again. We’ll see what happens” — the takeaway from Dombrowski’s end-of-season gab session was that he realizes the need for an infusion of youth, even as the Phillies prepare a nine-figure offer to Schwarber and discuss how far to go to retain Realmuto.

To extend the NBA comparison, the Phillies must incorporate their Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga, the 23-year-olds among the Warriors’ graybeards.

“We have some young players that we’re going to mesh into our club,” Dombrowski said. “I’m not going to declare that anybody has a job. But there will be some people that we’re really open-minded to being with our big league club next year, coming out of spring training.”

» READ MORE: Dave Dombrowski on Nick Castellanos’ future with the Phillies: ‘We’ll see what happens’

Unsurprisingly, Dombrowski mentioned outfielder Justin Crawford and right-hander Andrew Painter. He also name-checked Otto Kemp, who made his major-league debut in June and could fit next season as a right-handed bench bat.

But Dombrowski said he “wouldn’t even preclude [infielder] Aidan Miller from being that type of guy” to contribute in 2026, an indication that the Phillies are ready to push down harder on the prospect pedal.

They were conservative this season, consistent with their recent philosophy. A recent Fangraphs study showed that only 24 players have made their major- league debut with the Phillies since 2022, the third-fewest in baseball after the Yankees and Braves.

The trend must change.

“It’ll be very interesting next spring training because those guys, they’re on the doorstep, and a couple of them are ready to go,” manager Rob Thomson said of Crawford, Painter, and Miller. “So we’ll see. I love young players because they always bring energy. But they have to perform, too.”

At times this summer, the Phillies got “very close,” a team source said, to calling up Crawford.

Instead, they left the 21-year-old in triple A.

Never mind that left fielder Max Kepler was drowning, with a .201 average and .661 OPS through July 25. Rather than releasing the $10 million veteran and replacing him with Crawford, the Phillies gave Kepler a longer rope. And after trading for Harrison Bader at the deadline, there wasn’t an opportunity for Crawford to play every day in the majors.

But Crawford reached base at a .411 clip for Lehigh Valley and won the International League batting crown with a .334 average. He stole 46 bases and led the farm system with 147 hits.

“I don’t know what else he really does at the minor-league level at this point,” Dombrowski said. “He’s led leagues in hitting. He steals bases. He’s a good energy guy. He’s a solid outfielder.”

Go ahead, then, and pencil in Crawford for a spot in the season-opening outfield.

But where?

» READ MORE: From spring training: Justin Crawford is a polarizing prospect. But it’s set up for him to get a chance with the Phillies soon.

Differences of opinion about Crawford once focused on his offense, notably his extreme tendency to hit the ball on the ground. Now, it’s more whether he’s best suited for center field or left.

Crawford got drafted as a center fielder and played there exclusively for three years. He shifted to left field more often late this season, especially once Johan Rojas got sent back to triple A. Crawford’s dad, Carl, played left field for 15 years in the majors.

Dombrowski might have hinted at the Phillies’ thinking by saying Kepler is “not going to most likely be back because he’s a free agent and we have Justin Crawford coming.” And Thomson said Crawford is “maybe a little better in left than he is in center,” based on internal reports.

Other team officials don’t fully concur.

“I see Justin as a center fielder,” minor-league director Luke Murton said. “We’re very confident in his ability to play center field. It’s just a matter of, he’s played less left field over the course of his career, so give him exposure to that so when the opportunity comes, if he has to go to the big leagues and play left field, then he’s prepared to do that.

“But I think, as an organization, we see him as a center fielder.”

It would simplify the outfield picture if Crawford is able to handle center field.

» READ MORE: Season over. Era over? This Phillies core came up short again, and is poised for change this offseason.

Bader, who stabilized center field after the trade, is expected to decline his $10 million mutual option. The Phillies would feel less urgency to bring him back in free agency off his career-best season at the plate.

And they could commit to Brandon Marsh, also a better defender in left field than center, as at least the lefty-hitting side of a corner outfield platoon, which would enable them to focus on finding a replacement for malcontented right fielder Nick Castellanos, all but certain to be traded or released.

Regardless, it will be Crawford’s time. At last.

“I don’t expect him to carry our club in the very beginning of the season, but you also don’t want to put him in where you think it would be a bit too much for him,” Dombrowski said.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen. He has never been overwhelmed when he’s been with us at any level, and we keep moving him up. You want to just see that he just continues to handle himself the same way that he has,” Dombrowski said.

Don’t look now, but there will probably be a spot for Painter in the season-opening starting rotation.

Really. It’s true this time.

In 2023, a few team officials predicted that Painter would make the team out of camp even though he was 19 and hadn’t pitched above double A. He injured his elbow and wound up needing Tommy John surgery.

Last winter, in outlining the plan to build Painter’s workload in his return to the mound, Dombrowski infamously said he could be ready for the majors by “July-ish.” Instead, the top prospect had a 5.40 ERA in triple A.

It’s doubtful, then, that Dombrowski will pin yet another timetable on Painter. But with Ranger Suárez headed to free agency and Wheeler recovering from thoracic outlet decompression surgery, Painter’s long-awaited debut could come early next season.

“I think he’s going to be better the second year out after the Tommy John [surgery],” Thomson said. “The command’s going to get better. The quality of stuff’s going to get a little bit better. He’s going to be fine.”

Rival talent evaluators generally agree. One NL scout said last month that he has “appropriate concern” about the decline in Painter’s command but is inclined to “cut him some slack” after not pitching for two years.

» READ MORE: Andrew Painter has taken his lumps in triple-A. Why the Phillies remains bullish on the top prospect.

There were encouraging signs last month. In his second-to-last start, Painter tossed five scoreless innings. He shut out Syracuse for three innings before allowing three runs in the fourth in his final start.

Even if Suárez bolts, Cristopher Sánchez, Jesús Luzardo, Nola, and Taijuan Walker are rotation holdovers. The Phillies are optimistic that Wheeler will return. They can’t say for sure that he will still be elite.

Painter’s time is coming. Maybe even in April.

“He still throws his fastball in the upper-90s, touches 100, still has quality breaking stuff,” Dombrowski said. “Most importantly, he remained healthy. So, those things are the encouragement. He used to have great command. It wasn’t quite as good this year. And normally, when you trace back to a lot of people that have had Tommy John, that’s the last thing that comes back. We’re optimistic that he’ll be able to regain that.”

Murton was skeptical in spring training when minor-league baserunning coordinator Gary Cathcart recommended that Miller be among the players who got a green light to run.

“I was like, ‘Hey man, I don’t think Aidan Miller’s going to steal a ton of bases in the big leagues. That’s just me,’” Murton said. “He’s like, ‘Well, I think he’s going to.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I don’t.’”

Murton relented. A few months later, he marveled that Miller already swiped more than 20 bases. Miller finished with 59, including seven steals in eight games at triple A to end the season.

In hindsight, even Miller didn’t see it coming.

“Honestly, no,” he said last month. “I don’t really know if I’m faster this year. Maybe a little bit. But I think I’m just being more aggressive on the bases.”

Miller’s path to the majors might be accelerated, too.

After a slow start, he batted .356 with a 1.099 OPS in his last 36 games. If the Phillies trade Alec Bohm this winter, after dangling him in talks last offseason, Miller could be in the wings at third base, even though he has played shortstop so far throughout the minors.

“He’s played some second, he’s played some third, but he’s primarily been a shortstop, so we’d have to make sure that we properly prepared him to do that,” Dombrowski said. “That’s still a discussion that we’ll have to have. But he’s a really good player and a good athlete. And he can hit.

» READ MORE: Kyle Schwarber’s bet on himself paid off. And how he did it boosts his value — even as a DH.

“If Miller’s coming up here, he’s going to be an everyday player at the beginning of his career. We’re not going to bring him up and not play the majority of time.”

Miller was scheduled to play in the Arizona Fall League, but the Phillies decided that it was better if he rested after a long season. Besides, he could be in for a big spring training.

If it seems fast, consider this: When Dombrowski ran the Red Sox, he called up Andrew Benintendi from double A in 2016 and Rafael Devers a year later after only six triple-A games, two fewer than Miller played this season.