Phillies of Philadelphia release Remember Weston Wilson from Triple A, Whit Merrifield?
CBS Philadelphia, PA President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski announced on Friday afternoon that the Philadelphia Phillies had recalled infielder/outfielder Weston Wilson from Triple A Lehigh Valley and released veteran Whit Merrifield.
Due to his versatility across positions and his reputation as a contact hitter, the Phillies signed the 35-year-old Merrifield to a one-year, $8 million contract in February with the intention of using him as a utility player. Rather, in Philadelphia, the Merrifield experiment was a failure.
53 games and 174 plate appearances later, Merrifield’s Phillies career comes to an end. Along with 11 stolen bases and a.572 OPS, he hit.199/.277/.295 overall. Twenty games were his left field, twelve were his second base, and eight were his third base.
Nevertheless, Merrifield’s underlying statistics painted the whole picture; none of the projections indicated he would abruptly turn on a light.
The lowest hard-hit percentage of Merrifield’s career was 17.4%. It was the lowest exit velocity of his career, at 83 mph on average. He had one of the lowest exit velocities in baseball last season.
Merrifield’s release by the Phillies demonstrated once more their willingness to part ways with veterans. Dombrowski has benched a seasoned player who hasn’t performed up to par for the third year in a row: Josh Harrison in 2023, Didi Gregorius in 2022, and now Merrifield.
After playing two games with the team in London, Wilson is back with the Phillies. In two games of the London Series, he was 0 for 4. However, since joining the IronPigs again, the 29-year-old righty hitter has been using a heater.
Wilson has slashed.315/.446/.740 with a 1.186 OPS, 10 home runs, and 20 RBIs since June 15. On July 1, after registering an OPS of 1.417 and four home runs in six games, he was named the International League Player of the Week.
Before the July 30 trade deadline, the Phillies most likely intend to watch Wilson’s performance in the Major Leagues during the next weeks. Jeff Kerr of CBS News Philadelphia is informed by sources that the team is in need of outfield assistance.
With Merrifield out of the picture, there may be a chance to move up to the bench. Wilson is a versatile player who can also play left field, and the Phillies are probably searching for a platoon mate for Brandon Marsh.
The Phillies’ penultimate series before the All-Star break begins on Friday night, three games against the Oakland Athletics, weather allowed. Wilson will bat eighth against Oakland lefty Hogan Harris and start in left field.
