Phillies To Sign Daniel Nava

The Phillies have agreed to a minor-league deal with outfielder Daniel Nava, Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports on Twitter. Nava, 33, spent last year with the Angels and (briefly) the Royals.

It has been some time since Nava was a productive major leaguer. He put up a roughly league-average batting line in 2014 with the Red Sox, one year after his breakout 2013 campaign, but owns a modest .208/.307/.268 slash in his 314 plate appearances since that time. Nava is a switch-hitter who is historically much better against right-handed pitching.

While the rebuilding Phillies have added one likely corner outfield piece in Howie Kendrick, and continue to feature Odubel Herrera up the middle, there’s still ample uncertainty in the outfield. Nava will likely join the hunt for work in a platoon or true bench role along with a number of other players — including both prospects and other veterans brought in from outside the organization.

As things stand, younger corner outfield possibilities include right-handed hitters Aaron Altherr and Tyler Goeddel as well as the switch-hitting Roman Quinn. There are a few southpaw-swinging outfield candidates, too, including highly regarded prospects Nick Williams and Dylan Cozens, but it’s not clear whether they’ll be deemed ready for a major role out of the gates.