The Philadelphia Phillies made yet another minor league move on Thursday afternoon. According to Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.com, the Phillies acquired outfielder Ruben Cardenas from the Tampa Bay Rays. As confirmed on the Phillies' transaction page, they sent cash considerations to Tampa Bay in the deal.
The Rays have traded OF Ruben Cardenas to the Phillies, per source. The 26-year-old has an .876 OPS in Triple-A this season.
— Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) June 6, 2024
Phillies trade for heavy-hitting outfielder from Rays' farm system
Originally drafted by the Cleveland Guardians out of Cal State Fullerton in the 16th round in 2018, Cardenas has worked his way up through the minor leagues, first with Cleveland and then in the Rays' farm system. The 26-year-old joined the Rays organization in 2019 and has pushed his way through by eventually hitting at every level.
In his six minor league seasons, Cardenas has a .272 batting average and .829 OPS, although his power has just started to blossom recently. The right-handed hitter launched 16 home runs in 82 games in his first taste of Triple-A in 2022. He topped that in 2023 with 22 homers in 132 games. This season, he's on pace to break that total.
At the time of the trade, Cardenas was leading all qualified players on the Durham Bulls in the International League with 11 home runs, 28 RBI, a .281 batting average, a .530 slugging percentage and an .876 OPS in 185 at-bats over 49 games. He also has 11 doubles, a triple and five stolen bases this year.
Splitting time between the outfield corners, he has reduced his strikeout rate this season to 21 percent from 26.4 percent last year. Combined with a lower walk rate of 5.9 percent, down from 11.3, it looks like Cardenas is being more aggressive as well as more disciplined at the plate.
Cardenas has been assigned and will report to the Phillies Triple-A affiliate Lehigh Valley IronPigs. With David Dahl and Weston Wilson recently being called up to the big club, the IronPigs obviously needed some reinforcements.
The move comes on the heels of the Phillies' No. 27 prospect, José Rodríguez, being suspended by MLB for betting on baseball and the team trading away minor league pitcher Ryan Burr.