The Philadelphia Phillies said farewell to several players this offseason. There are a couple we’d like to have back. Then there are those who aren’t winning any fans with their new ball club.
A look around the league at some ex-Phillies finds these three members of the 2022 roster failing miserably in their new uniform.
1) Former Phillies player failing miserably with his new team: Nick Maton
There were Phillies fans who saw Nick Maton step up and play second base regularly in 2021 and 2022 who believed that maybe he could do it every day. In his 216 plate appearances for the team in those two years, Maton was a .254/.330/.434 hitter. A useful utility man, the Phillies saw it more important to package him and others in a trade with the Detroit Tigers this offseason to pick up Gregory Soto and Kody Clemens.
Unfortunately, something about playing for the Tigers seems to ruin everyone’s bat. After 18 games and 69 trips to the plate, Maton looks a lot like teammate Javier Baez. He’s slashing .131/.232/.311 with 3 home runs and 18 strikeouts. This isn’t the same light-hitting infielder the Phillies got to see. Some early pop has done little to save him from a batting average only a pitcher in the early 2000s would be proud of.
There is definitely time for Maton to improve and actually become a more useful player on the Tigers roster. Early thoughts of it being more than the quality bench player he was for the Phillies, however, may have been premature.
Maton has been a regular starter at third base for the Tigers while also giving them innings at second base. He’s proving anyone who thought he should start was a little too ambitious in believing he was ready.
Because the Tigers aren’t going anywhere, this former Phillies utility man is likely to get a long leash to try and figure it out.
Phillies fans came to enjoy Maton whenever they needed someone to step up, even for this other player failing miserably with his new team as well.