Phillies catcher Jorge Alfaro recently changed agents, according to Robert Murray of Fan Rag (via Twitter). He will now be represented by ISE Baseball, which has a long list of other MLB clients.
Alfaro was seen as a significant prospect when he came over to Philadelphia as part of the Cole Hamels trade. He is still just 24 years of age and produced a strong .318/.360/.514 batting line in 114 MLB plate appearances last year.
That said, there are some questions facing the out-of-options receiver. He had struggled quite a bit earlier in the year at Triple-A and carried his poor plate discipline with him into the bigs. Alfaro rode an unsustainable .420 batting average on balls in play to produce the impressive slash line; meanwhile, he struck out 33 times while drawing just three free passes.
Though the Phillies likely still hope to take a shot on Alfaro, who comes with a fairly lofty prospect pedigree, the team also has another promising young receiver in Andrew Knapp. And Cameron Rupp has established himself as a useful MLB catcher, too, with a still-low salary increasing his appeal. It’ll be interesting to see how the Phils manage things over the winter and into camp.
Alfaro joins Lewis Brinson as young former Rangers prospects changing agents in recent days. Both are reflected in MLBTR’s Agency Database.
I don’t like how these agent-change posts don’t mention which agent the player is leaving. Seems like an unnecessary omission considering it’s a five-paragraph post.
I’ve heard it explained that the media avoids identifying the previous agency because it makes them look bad. It’s a significant piece of information that journalists shouldn’t omit. It would be no different than the media reporting free agent signings without any mention of the players’ most recent team.
Watch this decision backfire. Lmfao
His former agency was the Beverly Hills Sports Council for those who wanted to know.
0.9 WAR over 29 games is a 5.0 WAR season over 162. Alfaro is a superstar in the making and a very important piece of the Phils puzzle.