David Dahl

The Phillies re-signed outfielder David Dahl to a minor league deal and assigned him to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, per Matt Gelb of The Athletic (X link). Dahl was designated for assignment by the Phils back on July 9 and rejected an outright assignment in favor of free agency a couple days later.

Dahl, 30, played just four big league games in 2022-23 before resurfacing with the Phils earlier this summer. The former No. 10 overall draft pick and longtime Rockies top prospect signed a minor league deal over the winter and blitzed through Triple-A opposition with a .340/.416/.660 batting line and a dozen homers in 166 trips to the plate prior to his promotion. He homered twice in his first three games back in the big leagues, setting the stage for a potential Cinderella comeback, but Dahl struggled to a .154/.196/.231 slash in 56 plate appearances thereafter.

Back in 2016, Dahl looked to be on the cusp of stardom. He reached the majors in his age-22 season after destroying minor league pitching and hit .315/.359/.500 with seven homers and five steals in his first 237 major league plate appearances. Dahl continued to hit well in subsequent seasons but missed substantial time due to injury as well. From 2016-19, he turned in a .297/.346/.521 batting line in 921 big league plate appearances but did so while enduring lengthy IL stints owing to back, ankle, foot and ribcage injuries. Add that to a lacerated spleen suffered as a prospect (which resulted in surgery to remove the organ entirely), and Dahl’s injury history quickly became lengthy and alarming.

That series of health maladies took its toll on the talented young outfielder. In 390 plate appearances dating back to 2020, Dahl has authored a tepid .200/.237/.318 slash in the majors. This year’s scintillating output in Lehigh Valley and his fast start following his promotion lend some hope that there’s still some of that 2016-19 form buried away. For now, he’ll head back to the IronPigs and try to force his way back into the Phillies’ major league plans.

The Phillies announced that outfielder David Dahl has cleared waivers and elected free agency. He was designated for assignment earlier this week. Players with a previous career outright or three years of service time can reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency, with Dahl qualifying on both counts.

Dahl, 30, was able to manufacture a feel-good comeback story a few weeks ago but it eventually ran out of steam. The veteran was mostly hurt for the 2020-23 period but looked great after signing a minor league deal with the Phils in the winter. He got into 43 Triple-A games and ripped 12 home runs in that time while also drawing walks at an 11.4% clip. He slashed .340/.416/.660 during his 166 plate appearances as an IronPig.

That got him called up to the majors as the Phillies put Brandon Marsh on the injured list. It seemed for a moment that Dahl was going to be able to keep the good times rolling, hitting two homers in his first three games with the Phils. But he hit a wall after that with a .154/.196/.231 line in his next 56 plate appearances, getting bumped off the roster when Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper returned from IL stints.

Dahl will now look for his next opportunity elsewhere, though the fact that all clubs passed on the opportunity to grab him off waivers suggests he’ll likely have to settle for another minor league deal. Some teams may be intrigued by his blistering start in Triple-A this year, as well as his past record. He hit .297/.346/.521 in 240 games with the Rockies from 2016 to 2019 but, as mentioned, has been hamstrung by injuries since then.

He has suffered a lacerated spleen that led to the organ needing to be removed entirely, as well as a stress fracture in his ribcage, a broken foot, a high ankle sprain, a shoulder strain, multiple back injuries and a quad strain. He has hit .200/.237/.318 in his 390 major league plate appearances since the end of 2019, split between the Rangers, Padres and Phillies.

Dahl passed five years of service this year but won’t be able to get to the six-year mark. If he winds up hitting somewhere and gets back on a roster, he could be retained via arbitration for 2025. With the trade deadline now less than three weeks away, perhaps some upcoming roster shuffling will open a nice opportunity for him somewhere.

The Phillies have agreed to a minor league deal with outfielder David Dahl, according to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman (via X).  The contract will become official when Dahl passes a physical.

Dahl didn’t see any big league action during the 2022 season, but he returned for a cup of coffee in the form of four games with the Padres at the start of the 2023 campaign.  A quad strain then sidelined Dahl for the better part of two months, and after San Diego released him in June, Dahl didn’t get another MLB call-up after signing another minors deal with the Dodgers.

The outfielder will now look for another fresh start in Philly, in what has become something of a journeyman career for the former top prospect.  Dahl was selected by the Rockies with the 10th overall pick of the 2012 draft, but his career has been marked by injuries, most notably a lacerated spleen suffered during an on-field collision while playing in the minors in 2015.  Debuting in the majors in 2016, Dahl hit .297/.346/.521 over 921 plate appearances with Colorado from 2016-19, and was named to the 2019 NL All-Star roster.

Dahl’s performance dropped off badly in 2020, to the point that the Rockies (surprisingly, at the time) non-tendered him that offseason.  Dahl signed with the Rangers but couldn’t regain his form, hitting .210/.247/.322 over 220 PA for Texas before being released in August 2021.  The Phillies are now the fifth team Dahl has joined on a minor league contract since he was cut loose by Texas.

Brandon Marsh underwent arthroscopic knee surgery last week and won’t get into any Spring Training games until early March, though the Phillies believe Marsh will be ready to go for Opening Day.  President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski didn’t think his team would look for outfield help in the wake of Marsh’s surgery, though between Dahl and yesterday’s deal with Whit Merrifield, the Phils have now signed two outfield-capable players in as many days.

Of course, this doesn’t necessarily indicate any concern over Marsh’s timeline, since Merrifield can also play second base and Dahl’s deal isn’t even guaranteed.  Dahl (like Marsh) is a left-handed hitter, so Philadelphia has a number of other lefty-swinging outfield candidates on the depth chart in Jake Cave, Simon Muzziotti, and Cal Stevenson.