The Phillies announced Friday that they’ve claimed outfielder Cal Stevenson off waivers from the Giants. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Philadelphia transferred Rule 5 right-hander Noah Song from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
Stevenson originally came to the Giants from the A’s, coming over in exchange for cash. He went hitless in 12 plate appearances as a Giant and has just a .145/.259/.188 slash in 83 trips to the plate at the big league level. That’s an unsightly look, of course, but it comes in a tiny sample.
Down in the minors, he’s been a much more productive hitter. Stevenson touts a .271/.382/.386 batting line with seven home runs and 21 steals in 26 attempts. He’s walked at a hefty 15% clip in Triple-A against a lower-than-average 18.2% strikeout rate. Stevenson can play all three outfield spots, though the bulk of his work has come in center field.
The Phils don’t necessarily have a dire outfield need, with Kyle Schwarber, breakout 25-year-old Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos lining up from left to right, respectively. However, with Cristian Pache on the mend from surgery to repair a meniscus tear, Philadelphia also doesn’t have a true fourth outfielder. Veteran utilityman Josh Harrison is no stranger to the outfield corners, and rookie infielder/outfielder Dalton Guthrie has spent time in center field. However, Guthrie has more experience on the infield than in the outfield. Stevenson will give the Phillies a pure fourth outfield option who carries nearly 1800 professional innings of experience in center, plus another 1300 in the corners.
It’s Yusuf Islam now, thank you.
But it’s still a wild world.
Wouldn’t it be Yusuf Islamson?
The scuffling, Philadelphia Phillies are at the crossroads of their season. The next turnoff is irrelevance, whereas contention is still many more miles down the road.
That’s what we said last year. It’s May.
I would rather have another arm
You want three arms?
Are you the martian from the Twilight Zone?
No need for the comma between scuffling and Philadelphia. And ‘whereas’ used correctly contradicts a prior situation explained in the preceding paragraph. Next time you might want to go with ’therefore’ or ‘accordingly’ instead.
The Braves are now being followed by a Moon Shadow.
Once the Moon goes down & the shadow dissipates.
Morning has broken (lattes for everyone)
Fine depth. Nothing more. Need these moves in a long season
Aaron Hicks or Eric Hosmer make way more sense to me. With Pache coming back soon I really don’t see how a light hitting, non base stealing, undersized player that has never shown much of anything is going to be helpful to the Phillies in any capacity unless they are planning on using him as a bat boy.
I don’t think Hosmer fits at all. Playing first base would require sitting either Sosa or Klemens, and although neither are terribly inspiring, they certainly bring more to the table than today’s Hosmer.
This is a minor league depth move. Hicks and Hosmer have 0 potential.
Bruce-I generally agree with your post but with all due respect to you and Cal he should be called a “Batman” if the Phillies go that route.
Hicks makes sense for your local fast-pitch league, but that’s all.
Can never have enough CF help, but this certainly makes things crowded at LHV.
He is nothing more than depth for triple a. No risk in picking him up, easy enough to get rid of him if need 40 man spot.
Solid 9 ABs at least walked more than K’d Goodluck to him in Phil
So many lefties.
Good luck Cal