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Notable Draft Signings: 7/24/24

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A handful of draft prospects have agreed to $2MM+ bonuses over the past two days. Unless otherwise noted, bonuses were first reported by Jim Callis of MLB.com. Pre-draft rankings and scouting reports are provided by Keith Law of the Athletic, Baseball America, FanGraphs and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel.

  • Padres first-round pick Kash Mayfield agreed to terms at $3.4421MM. That’s full slot value for the 25th pick to keep him from attending Oklahoma State. Mayfield was the second high school pitcher off the board. The 6’4″ southpaw has a three-pitch mix, advanced control, and can touch 97 MPH. He’s a potential mid-rotation arm. San Diego went with another high school pitcher, Boston Bateman, in the second round. Baseball America’s Carlos Collazo reports (on X) that he lands an above-slot $2.5MM bonus. Bateman is a massive left-hander with mid-90s velocity and a good slider, but his 6’8″ frame leads to questionable command projection. He’d been committed to LSU.
  • The Brewers agreed to a $3.44MM bonus with first-round pick Braylon Payne. Milwaukee selected the Texas high school outfielder with the 17th selection. Payne was not generally expected to go in the first round. McDaniel was highest on him, ranking 38th in his pre-draft list. Milwaukee cut an underslot deal but still paid Payne like a late first-round talent to sign him out of a commitment to the University of Houston. Evaluators credit Payne with at least 70-grade speed and the ability to stick in center field, though there’s some skepticism about his offensive upside. Second-round pick Blake Burke landed a $2.1MM bonus, Collazo reports (X link). A first baseman from the University of Tennessee, he hit .379/.449/.702 this season.
  • The Dodgers signed #23 pick Kellon Lindsey for $3.3MM, as first reported by J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group. That’s a bit below the approximate $3.68MM slot value. Lindsey is a high school infielder who’d been committed to Florida. He’s a top-of-the-scale runner who could eventually fit in center field, though he has played shortstop in high school. All four outlets note that Lindsey has similarities to Trea Turner at the same age, though that’d clearly be at the very high end of his range of outcomes. He’s listed at 6’0″ and 175 pounds and might have limited power but could offer a traditional leadoff profile.
  • Rangers first-round pick Malcolm Moore signed for $3MM. That’s just above slot for the 30th selection. A Stanford product, Moore is a left-handed hitting catcher. He’s regarded as a bat-first player with questions about his ability to stick behind the dish, but his hit/power combination made him a first round talent. Moore turned in a .255/.414/.553 slash with more walks than strikeouts this season. He was a draft-eligible sophomore who turns 21 next week.
  • The A’s went above slot to sign second-round pick Tommy White for $3MM, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). The 40th pick comes with a value around $2.33MM. White’s bonus more closely aligned with the very end of the first round. An LSU product, the righty-hitting White had an OPS above 1.000 in all three college seasons. He hit .330/.401/.638 with 24 homers in his draft year. He has good contact skills and massive raw power, though there’s some concern about his aggressive approach. White played third base in college but isn’t a good athlete and could move to first base in pro ball. Oakland also went above slot with a $2MM bonus for third-rounder Gage Jump, Callis reports (X link). A teammate of White’s at LSU, Jump has a mid-90s fastball and a pair of breaking pitches. Most evaluators project him to the bullpen because of inconsistent control and his smaller stature.
  • The Diamondbacks have agreements with supplemental picks Ryan Waldschmidt and J.D. Dix. Waldschmdit, a righty-hitting outfielder from the University of Kentucky, gets the $2.904MM value associated with the 31st pick. Law ranked him as the #11 player in the class, while FanGraphs and ESPN had him at the back of the top 20. Waldschmidt had a massive junior season, hitting .333/.469/.610. He’s limited to left field but draws praise for his plate discipline and exit velocities. Dix is a switch-hitting high school shortstop from Wisconsin. A Wake Forest commit, he has a well-rounded profile but underwent surgery on his throwing shoulder last fall and spent a chunk of this spring as a designated hitter.
  • Yankees first-round pick Ben Hess agreed to terms at $2.7475MM, reports Bryan Hoch of MLB.com (on X). He was taken 26th overall, which comes with a slot value around $3.33MM. Hess is a 6’5 right-hander from the University of Alabama. He works in the mid-90s fastball and has a promising slider. Law ranked him 24th in the class and wrote that he has mid-rotation potential. Hess had a mixed track record in college and struggled to throw strikes in his draft year, though. He posted a 5.80 earned run average across 15 appearances this season. The Yanks went above slot in the second round for righty Bryce Cunningham, who signed for $2.2975MM. He had a 4.36 ERA over 16 starts this season for Vanderbilt. The 6’5″ hurler has a three-pitch mix and a chance to stick as a starter.
  • The Phillies have a $2.5MM deal with first-rounder Dante Nori. He was selected with the 27th pick, which comes with a value around $3.23MM. Nori is a left-handed hitting outfielder from Michigan who’d been committed to Mississippi State. Evaluators praise his speed and nascent power potential. He’s significantly older than the typical high schooler, turning 20 not long after the draft.
  • The Twins agreed to a $2.4MM bonus with 33rd pick Kyle DeBarge, Collazo reports (on X). Callis reports that Minnesota also went above slot to sign 69th pick Dasan Hill for $2MM. DeBarge is a 5’9″ shortstop from the University of Louisiana who hit .356/.418/.699 this season. He’s a hit over power player who could project to a utility role. Hill is a lanky left-hander from a Texas high school who had been committed to Dallas Baptist. FanGraphs had him as the #24 player in the class and projected him as a potential mid-rotation starter.
  • 39th overall pick Caleb Lomavita signed with the Nationals. Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com reports (on X) that he landed a $2.325MM bonus that is just below slot value. Lomavita is a righty-hitting catcher out of Cal who has advanced contact skills and a good chance to stick behind the plate. His very aggressive offensive approach leads to some risk about his on-base floor. Lomavita hit .322/.395/.586 during his draft season but only walked 12 times in 55 games. The Nationals acquired the 39th pick from the Royals in the Hunter Harvey trade.

The A’s Difficult Deadline Decision

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The A's are one of the few obvious sellers this summer. Oakland will certainly move some players by next Tuesday, but it's not clear if they'll dominate the trade market. The A's don't have anyone on significant long-term commitments that they'll be trying to offload. They could move a couple middle relievers and call it a deadline.

That's not all that interesting. Their bigger decisions will be whether to deal players under team control. They've reportedly set a massive demand on Mason Miller, whom they could stretch back into a rotation role next season. Miller has been the subject of a ton of trade speculation with good reason. There's been less chatter, at least publicly, about Brent Rooker.

The front office might have an even tougher call in the coming days regarding Rooker than they do with their star closer. Rooker has been one of the most productive offensive players in baseball over the past season and a half. He could be the best hitter traded. Yet his winding career arc makes him a tricky player to value -- potentially making it tough for the A's and other teams to align on an asking price.

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A’s Sign First-Round Pick Nick Kurtz

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The Athletics announced they’ve signed fourth overall pick Nick Kurtz. MLB.com’s Jim Callis reports (on X) that the former Wake Forest first baseman receives a $7MM bonus. That’s well shy of the approximate $8.37MM slot value, freeing up a decent chunk of money for Oakland to spend on their later picks.

Kurtz has been regarded as one of the best offensive players in the class for the last two years. The left-handed hitter reached base at an absurd .510 clip over his college career. He’s coming off a .306/.531/.763 slash line in his draft year. Kurtz walked at a massive 30% clip while striking out 16.2% of the time as a junior. He popped 22 home runs in 54 games.

Listed at 6’5″ and 240 pounds, Kurtz has obvious power potential. He’s an exceptionally patient hitter, although FanGraphs wrote in their pre-draft report that his approach borders on passive. FanGraphs ranked Kurtz as the #17 prospect in the class. Baseball America, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN and The Athletic’s Keith Law each had him in the back half of the top 10. The primary concern is in Kurtz’s limited defensive profile. While he’s a quality defender at first base, he’s already at the bottom of the defensive spectrum. The recent track record for highly-drafted college first basemen (i.e. Andrew Vaughn, Spencer Torkelson) hasn’t been great.

Athletics’ Luis Medina Being Evaluated For UCL Injury

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The A’s received a pair of unwelcome injury updates over the weekend, when righty Luis Medina was diagnosed with an injury to the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and outfielder Esteury Ruiz was pulled back from a minor league rehab assignment due to lingering discomfort in his ailing wrist (links to X via Martin Gallegos of MLB.com). Medina is headed for a second opinion on his elbow. Ruiz’s wrist will be reevaluated by a doctor today.

The 25-year-old Medina came to the A’s alongside lefties JP Sears and Ken Waldichuk in the trade that sent Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino to the Yankees. As it’s turned out, four of the five pitchers involved in that swap — Medina, Waldichuk, Montas, Trivino — have incurred significant injuries since the deal came together. Waldichuk and Trivino both had Tommy John surgery. Montas underwent shoulder surgery. Medina is now facing a prolonged absence himself, in all likelihood.

Medina started 17 games for the A’s last season. He struggled to an ERA north of 5.00 on the season as a whole but was generally solid after a shaky start. In his final 80 innings last year, the hard-throwing right-hander posted a 4.39 ERA (3.82 FIP, 4.75 SIERA) with a 22.3% strikeout rate, 12% walk rate and 44.3% ground-ball rate. Command has been an issue for Medina in the majors and upper minors alike, but that decent stretch over the final three months of the ’23 campaign was enough to land Medina a rotation opportunity in 2024.

He missed the first two-plus months of the season after sustaining a Grade 2 sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee during spring training, but upon returning, Medina looked similar to that June through September form from last summer. From June 2 through July 6, Medina pitched 35 innings of 4.37 ERA ball across seven starts. His strikeout rate (15.9%) was down, as was his velocity (only by about 0.4 mph), but neither seemed like a major red flag for a pitcher returning from a notable knee injury. He was pulled mid-inning after giving up six runs in five frames against the Red Sox on July 11, however, and placed on the injured list with an elbow sprain shortly thereafter.

A confirmed UCL injury and second opinion from an external source are never good signs for any pitcher. There’s no indication yet that Medina will require surgery, but a the majority of UCL sprains culminate in Tommy John surgery, an internal brace procedure, or a hybrid of the two. There are certainly cases of pitchers rehabbing a UCL sprain and never requiring surgery — Medina’s own teammate, Mason Miller, missed four months with a sprain last year and has been dominant since returning — but those are more the exception than the rule. If Medina ultimately requires surgery, it could knock him out for a year or more, but he and the A’s will be hoping he can emulate Miller’s path.

As for Ruiz, he swiped 67 bases in 132 games last season but did so with a well below-average .254/.306/.345 batting line. He posted an even rougher .200/.270/.382 slash in 65 plate appearances this season. The A’s optioned him to Triple-A on April 1, and he hit .326/.423/.581 with three homers and seven steals in 11 games before being recalled to the majors and continuing to struggle at the plate. He’s been out since May 22 with a left injury that apparently hasn’t healed all the way just yet.

Ruiz’s gaudy minor league numbers continue to impress, but he’s yet to establish himself as a viable big league hitter (.243/.297/.343) and has thus far looked more the part of a fourth outfielder than a starter. He’s been leapfrogged by fellow trade acquisition JJ Bleday on the center field depth chart. Bleday is hitting .233/.314/.432 (114 wRC+) with a dozen homers in 405 plate appearances.

Latest On Mason Miller’s Trade Market

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There’s no bigger target on the relief market than A’s breakout closer Mason Miller. The All-Star righty begins the second half with a 2.27 earned run average through 39 2/3 innings. He has punched out 70 of 150 opponents (an absurd 46.7% rate) while locking down 15 of 17 save chances. Miller might be the most dominant relief force in the league at the moment.

Oakland general manager David Forst will receive no shortage of trade calls over the next week and a half. Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote last night that the Orioles are among the teams with interest in Miller. Heyman adds that Baltimore also remains connected to old friend Tanner Scott, to whom they’ve been linked for the better part of two months. The O’s are generally expected to land a high-leverage reliever who can either supplant Craig Kimbrel as closer or bridge the gap to the ninth inning.

The Marlins will almost certainly deal Scott, an impending free agent, by July 30. It’d be significantly harder to pry Miller from the A’s. He’s under club control for five seasons after this one. Even a rebuilding team is under no pressure to move him. Robert Murray of FanSided wrote this evening that executives outside of Oakland remain skeptical that the A’s will deal Miller. They’ll have an exorbitant asking price, at the very least.

Miller’s injury history is the main argument for the A’s to move him this summer. The 25-year-old missed most of the 2022 season battling shoulder problems. He lost the bulk of the ’23 campaign to a UCL sprain in his elbow. Miller throws as hard as anyone in baseball and has had a pair of extended arm-related absences within the last three years. There’s clearly some level of risk that he suffers another injury. The A’s are unlikely to be competitive before the 2026 season at the earliest, so Miller could make more of an immediate impact on a team with nearer playoff aspirations.

Yet as appealing as Miller already is as an elite closer, there’s a chance he improves his value even more in the next year or two. Miller was a starting pitcher in the minors and for his first few weeks in the big leagues. Oakland moved him to the bullpen this year as a means of keeping his innings in check. Forst said at the time of the bullpen transfer that the A’s might stretch Miller back out as a starter in 2025. It’d be tempting to keep him in the bullpen now that the team has seen how dominant he is in that role, but no one has ruled out a return to starting. Miller told USA Today’s Bob Nightengale last week that he’s not closing off the possibility of moving back to the rotation in ’25 or beyond.

Garrett Crochet has dramatically elevated his trade value with three months of ace production. There’s no guarantee Miller would take to a rotation move the way that Crochet has, of course, but it’s not hard to see the potential for him to be an impact starter. If he ran with a rotation opportunity next season, he’d further elevate his stock both within the organization and on the trade market.

A’s To Promote Jacob Wilson

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The Athletics are calling up top infield prospect Jacob Wilson, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com (X link). Last year’s sixth overall pick has posted incredible numbers through his first full professional season. Oakland has two vacancies on the 40-man roster and optioned Armando Alvarez yesterday to create an active roster spot. No corresponding move is required.

Wilson is the fifth player from the 2023 first round to reach the big leagues. The Angels pushed Nolan Schanuel there last summer, while Wyatt Langford, Paul Skenes and Hurston Waldrep have made their debuts this season. Wilson only needed 72 minor league games to convince the A’s that he is prepared for a look at MLB arms.

The A’s selected the righty-hitting Wilson — the son of former All-Star Jack Wilson — after a standout college career at Grand Canyon University. Wilson hit .412 with 19 walks and a laughable total of five strikeouts over 49 games during his junior season. While he certainly wasn’t facing the caliber of pitching that players like Langford and Dylan Crews saw in the SEC, scouts have never doubted that his contact skills would translate.

Whether Wilson would make enough hard contact to be an impact hitter was more debatable. How well the profile will translate against MLB pitching remains to be seen, but he hasn’t had any problem hitting for power in the minors. Wilson tore through Double-A pitching, connecting on 13 doubles and a trio of homers in 22 games. He hit .455/.473/.705 over 93 plate appearances to earn a bump to Triple-A Las Vegas in May. An injured list stint briefly held him back, but he has continued to rake since returning in June.

Over 19 Triple-A contests, Wilson hit .398/.444/.639 with seven walks and only three strikeouts. He popped another four homers and eight doubles. Between the top two minor league levels and a brief rehab stint in rookie ball, he owns an eye-popping .438/.475/.687 batting line in 200 plate appearances this season.

The A’s have used Wilson exclusively at shortstop. There’s little reason for a rebuilding Oakland team not to give him a shot to stick there. The A’s have been running with 27-year-old rookie Max Schuemann at the position for the last two weeks. Schuemann has a league average .245/.339/.347 slash line. That’s decent production, but the former 20th round draftee isn’t going to stand in Wilson’s way. The A’s could kick Schuemann over to third base while Abraham Toro is on the injured list, cutting into the playing time for Brett Harris in the process.

Wilson’s massive numbers vaulted him up to #19 on Baseball America’s most recent ranking of the sport’s Top 100 prospects. He opened the season in the #76 spot. MLB Pipeline ranked him 68th before Opening Day and has nudged him up to #50 at this point. Wilson meets the prospect criteria to potentially earn a full service year if he manages to finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year balloting, though that’ll be a tough task with less than half the season to play. The A’s would not receive a bonus pick if Wilson were to win Rookie of the Year since they didn’t call him up in time to accrue a full year of service in the traditional manner — spending 172 days on the MLB roster.

Barring a top-two Rookie of the Year finish, Wilson will be under team control for six seasons beyond this one. He’s not likely to qualify for arbitration until the 2027-28 offseason. A future assignment back to the minor leagues could delay that trajectory.

A’s Release Lazaro Armenteros

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The A’s released outfielder Lazaro Armenteros, tweets Francys Romero. Oakland had sent Armenteros through outright waivers in May, so the move won’t create a spot on the 40-man roster.

It’s a disappointing conclusion to the Cuban outfielder’s seven-year stint in the A’s system. Armenteros was a high-profile amateur signee back in 2016. He landed a $3MM bonus on the strength of his raw power potential. It didn’t take long for prospect evaluators to express concerns about Armenteros’ defense and pure hitting ability, though. The right-handed hitter never made enough contact to get a major league look in Oakland.

Armenteros has fanned in more than 37% of his professional plate appearances. Even with huge walk rates and double digit home run totals, that’s not viable against minor league pitching. The A’s nevertheless added Armenteros to their 40-man roster at the start of last offseason on the heels of a .248/.380/.464 showing in Double-A. At the time, Oakland’s front office still had some belief that he could translate his physical tools into better results and didn’t want to let him reach minor league free agency.

The A’s gave the 25-year-old Armenteros his first look at Triple-A pitching this season. It didn’t go well, as he struck out nearly 40% of the time en route to a .191/.321/.309 slash over 42 games. The A’s demoted Armenteros back to Double-A last month. While he managed decent results behind a .481 average on balls in play, a 37.5% strikeout rate in 16 Double-A games led the team to move on entirely.

Mason Miller Open To Returning To Rotation In Future

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Athletics right-hander Mason Miller has broken out as one of the most dominant relievers in the world this year, which will lead to an interesting decision about his future role. He tells Bob Nightengale of USA Today that he’s open to returning to the rotation down the line but also appears somewhat tempted to stick where he’s having success.

“I don’t think I want to close that opportunity,” Miller said of possibly starting someday. “If the opportunity presents itself, maybe, but with the success I’ve had [as a closer], I think it’s a difficult decision to say I want to get away from that.”

Miller, 25, was primarily a starter in college but wasn’t able to stay healthy in his first few professional seasons. He was drafted in 2021 but then was held back by a shoulder strain in 2022, limited to just 14 innings over six minor league starts. Last year, he made two minor league starts and four in the majors before landing on the injured list with forearm tightness. He was eventually diagnosed with a sprained UCL in his throwing elbow and avoided surgery but wasn’t able to return until September.

In December, general manager David Forst discussed Miller’s situation, with Martín Gallegos of MLB.com relaying his sentiments on X. Forst said the club was planning to have Miller serve in a relief role in 2024, with a return to starting a possibility down the road, but they wanted him to stay healthy for a full season first.

As mentioned, 2024 has been a banner year for Miller so far in that relief role. He already has 15 saves and a 2.27 earned run average in 39 2/3 innings. He has struck out an incredible 46.7% of batters faced. Among pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched this year, Josh Hader is second in the strikeout rate category but well behind Miller at 40.4%. He has been selected to his first All-Star team this year.

If Miller stays healthy in the second half, the question will turn to what comes next and it appears the A’s don’t yet have a firm decision. “I don’t know,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said to Nightengale. The skipper added that he didn’t want to rule anything it out but they are still focused on keeping Miller healthy in 2024, before addressing the inherent pros and cons of the decision. “There’s more value there in the innings, but obviously there’s more impact with the opportunity for us to win a game at the back end with him being the closer.’’

This season, various players have attempted to the reliever-to-starter move, with varying degrees of success. MLBTR’s Steve Adams recently took a look at the results, with Garrett Crochet and Reynaldo López two of the best success stories with A.J. Puk on the other end of the spectrum.

The A’s control Miller for another five seasons after this one and are currently rebuilding. That gives them some leeway to experiment if they and Miller decide that they want to, but there would also be an argument for simply continuing with what’s working. Many closers around baseball are former starters who were put into late-inning roles due to health issues or workload concerns, then were simply kept there because it was working.

Miller is one of the hardest throwers in baseball, averaging 100.9 miles per hour. He already has the UCL sprain and the significant shoulder strain on his track record. He would likely have to pull back on the velocity a bit if he were to move into a starter’s role but it would still be a new challenge keeping his body healthy for the marathon of starting for a full season, as opposed to the high-octane relief role he’s been in this year.

Broadly speaking, having an effective starting pitcher give a club 150 to 200 quality innings is more valuable than 50 to 60 innings of relief work. That’s why the best starting pitchers are paid more than the best relievers, both in arbitration and in free agency. Controllable starters also tend to bring back larger returns when traded, as compared to their relief counterparts. Miller has been speculated as a trade candidate this season, reportedly drawing lots of interest, though with the A’s setting a high asking price. They would likely have to be blown away to trade five-plus years of such a dominant pitcher and the possibility of him returning to a rotation down the line could conceivably give him even more trade value at some point.

Both the A’s and Miller would stand to benefit if he could successfully take on a rotation role, but whether they pursue it or not could depend on the comfort level from both sides, as well as the ongoing monitoring of his health.

Athletics Select Seth Brown

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The Athletics announced that catcher/first baseman Tyler Soderstrom has been placed on the 10-day injured list, with first baseman/outfielder Seth Brown selected to the roster to replace him. The club already had three vacancies on their 40-man thanks to recently outrighting Aaron Brooks as well as releasing Aledmys Díaz and Sean Newcomb, so the count now climbs to 38. Soderstrom has a left wrist bone bruise, per Martín Gallegos of MLB.com on X.

It’s unclear how long the club expects Soderstrom to be out. Clubs sometimes have a quick trigger when it comes to IL stints around the All-Star break. Due to the four off-days, Soderstrom could theoretically return after a minimal stint and miss fewer games than an IL stint at any other point in the season. Perhaps further reporting will shed some more light on the situation.

Regardless of the details on that, Brown gets back to the majors. He was outrighted off the roster last month after a rough start to the season wherein he slashed .189/.251/.306 while striking out in 33.8% of his 195 plate appearances.

He reported to Triple-A Las Vegas and has been tearing the cover off the ball. He hit seven home runs in 16 games for the Aviators and produced a batting line of .403/.416/.736. Part of that is surely due to the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League as well as his .423 batting average on balls in play, but it’s a nice bounceback nonetheless.

Brown hit 45 homers for the A’s over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, leading to a line of .224/.294/.457 and 112 wRC+. Last year, he hit just 14 homers and his line of .222/.286/.405 dragged his wRC+ down to 92. Then, as mentioned, he had an awful start to the 2024 season.

His recent showing with the Aviators was a small sample and surely he can’t maintain that insane pace, but it would be nice for the A’s if he could simply be back around his 2021-22 form. He won’t be a big part of the rebuilding club’s future since he turns 32 years old this Saturday, but he could be a deadline trade candidate if he’s in good form at the plate. He also has some versatility, capable of playing passable defense at first base or in an outfield corner. He is making $2.6MM this year and can be controlled via arbitration for two seasons beyond this one.

Phillies Reportedly Interested In Brent Rooker

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The Phillies are “keeping a close eye on” A’s outfielder Brent Rooker ahead of the trade deadline, according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski suggested last month that the club may look to add only modestly ahead of the trade deadline on July 30, and highlighted the bullpen as an area where the team could stand to improve. That’s not to say the Phillies won’t make any additions outside of relief help this summer, however. The club’s 58-31 record entering play today affords them the best winning percentage in baseball, leaving them well-positioned to push for the club’s first World Series championship since 2008 this October.

That doesn’t mean the club lacks holes, however, and outfield production is arguably one of the biggest. With Bryce Harper having moved to first base on a full-time basis and Kyle Schwarber now in an everyday DH role, the lefty sluggers that have worked the outfield corners for the Phillies in recent years have now vacated the outfield grass. Brandon Marsh has performed well when healthy, slashing .265/.346/.414 with a 116 wRC+ while splitting time between all three outfield spots, and veteran slugger Nick Castellanos has begun to heat up in recent weeks and figures to continue acting as the club’s everyday right fielder.

With that being said, each of Johan Rojas, Cristian Pache, and Whit Merrifield have all disappointed offensively this season. While Rojas and Pache both offer valuable defensive in center field and Merrifield’s versatility makes him a useful bench player, none have posted a wRC+ higher than 60 this year despite taking nearly 500 combined at-bats for the Phillies. That’s led the club to resort to using journeyman David Dahl as a left-handed complement to the trio of righties, but while he got off to a hot start in a Phillies uniform earlier this year he’s fallen back to Earth and now sports a meager .207/.242/.397 (75 wRC+) slash line in 19 games with Philadelphia.

It’s easy to see how Rooker would be a perfect fit for the club’s outfield mix. The 29-year-old first broke out with the A’s last year with a 127 wRC+ in 137 games, but he’s taken his offense to another level so far in the 2024 campaign. In 313 trips to the plate with the club this year, Rooker has slashed a fantastic .277/.351/.540 with a wRC+ of 153. While that production has come with a troublesome 32.9% strikeout rate, Rooker has made up for it with a strong 9.9% walk rate and the seventh-highest isolated slugging percentage in the majors.

While .371 BABIP this season is likely too high to be entirely sustainable, advanced metrics are generally buying in on his overall production as his .378 xwOBA is a near match for his .380 wOBA, suggesting that any regression in BABIP should be made up for by his eye-popping 16.4% barrel rate so long as he manages to keep his elite contact quality up going forward. That’s particularly important for Rooker given that the breakout journeyman entered the year with just over two years of service time under his belt. He’s making just over the league minimum this year and would come with three more seasons of team control after this one before becoming a free agent following the 2027 season.

That’s a timeline that lines up nicely with the current window in Philadelphia. Veteran ace Zack Wheeler just signed an extension that will also end following the 2027 season, and youngsters Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott are both also slated to hit free agency following that campaign. Meanwhile stars Bryce Harper, Aaron Nola, and Trea Turner will all be entering this mid-30’s at that point and complementary pieces of the current core like Schwarber, Castellanos, and J.T. Realmuto will have seen their contracts expire. That Rooker’s years of control line up so cleanly with Philadelphia’s current window of contention could make him all the more attractive to the Phillies.

With that being said, it’s worth pointing out that the club may have other prioritizes ahead of the trade deadline this year. As previously mentioned, Dombrowski has highlighted a desire to improve the club’s bullpen this summer in the past, and he also cautioned last month that the club wasn’t likely to pursue the sort of blockbuster trade where the club would have to “trade three top prospects” to acquire a player.

Relief help isn’t the only other need the club may look to address this summer, either. The club entered the summer with something of an embarrassment of riches in the rotation that forced Spencer Turnbull into a bullpen role despite a 1.67 ERA in six starts back in April, but since then both Taijuan Walker and Turnbull have hit the injured list, leaving the club to rely on rookie Michael Mercado to fill out the club’s rotation behind Wheeler, Nola, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez. With Turnbull not expected back until late August at the earliest and Walker lacking a specific timeline for return, it’s possible the Phillies could look to add a pitcher capable of helping the club either out of the rotation or bullpen depending on their needs at that moment.

Rooker also isn’t the only outfielder expected to be available at the deadline this year, with White Sox veteran Tommy Pham standing out as a rental option who would likely prove cheaper to acquire than Rooker if the Phillies are concerned with the prospect cost involved in acquiring the A’s outfielder. Kevin Pillar of the Angels, Mark Canha of the Tigers, and Jesse Winker of the Nationals are among the other rental veterans playing for teams who could consider selling this summer and would likely cost the Phillies less than a controllable asset like Rooker.

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