Phillies Triple-A standout Dalton Guthrie replaces injured OF Nick Castellanos.
When it rains, it pours for the Philadelphia Phillies. Among their other slew of injuries, outfielder Nick Castellanos has been sidelined in recent games with a right oblique strain.
Before Sunday’s series finale defeat to the San Francisco Giants, the Phillies placed the slugging outfielder on the 10-day injured list — retroactive to September 3.
In corresponding moves, the organization selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Dalton Guthrie from Triple-A Lehigh Valley and designated minor-league infielder Luis Garcia for assignment.
Interim Manager Rob Thomson told reporters that the Phillies consider Castellanos’ oblique injury as “mild” and hope he will just be out the minimum 10 days, reports The Athletic’s Matt Gelb. In Castellanos’ right field absence, the Phillies will turn to Matt Vierling, Nick Maton, and Guthrie. Maton went 0-3 with a walk and strikeout in the west coast trip finale against Gabe Kapler and the Giants.
More runs courtesy of @DaltonGuthrie #OinkOn pic.twitter.com/9MHxkGFBvL
— Lehigh Valley IronPigs (@IronPigs) August 4, 2022
The Phillies drafted Guthrie in the sixth round of the 2017 draft out of the University of Florida. The 26-year-old played mostly infield in his first four professional seasons, before playing essentially full-time outfield innings in 2022.
Guthrie had a career year in the minors at Triple-A this season — slashing .302/.363/.476 with 27 doubles, 10 home runs, 52 RBI, and 21 stolen bases across 92 games. He fielded 480 perfect innings in center field, while recording five assists. In right field, Guthrie committed two errors while logging six assists across 213 innings.
Garcia, on the other hand, was amid his worst professional season to date. In 55 games, he slashed .167/.316/.253 with nine extra-base hits and 11 RBI. The 21-year-old recorded just two singles in 26 plate appearances at Double-A, specifically.
Seeing Castellanos go down is not a positive sign, but hopefully Guthrie can provide some much-needed spark for a Phillies team that has lost six of its last seven games. Sixteen of their next 18 opponents will be National League East rivals, so now is surely the time to turn things around at this crucial point in the season.