The Philadelphia Phillies recalled slugging first baseman Darick Hall Sunday morning, optioning Kody Clemens to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Hall was all smiles prior to Sunday’s series finale against the Washington Nationals, explaining in the Phillies clubhouse how excited he was to be back with the team and discussing the highs and lows of his rehab from tearing the UCL in his right thumb in the second series of the regular season.
“I feel good. I like where I’m at, and the good thing is that the pain is gone,” Hall said. “Like when I first came back, it [the pain] would be here and there, my thumb would hurt on certain swings. But that’s even subsided.”
Manager Rob Thomson said Sunday morning that the Phillies are excited to have Hall back, even adding that he’s “playing actually probably better than he’s ever played.”
“He’s ready,” Thomson said of Hall. “I talked to AC [IronPigs’ manager Anthony Contreras] 10 days ago, and he said he was getting there, but he wasn’t quite there. And the other day, he said ‘Yeah, he’s good to go.'”
For the time being, the plan is that Hall will be the starting first baseman against right-handed pitchers, which isn’t especially surprising given that he posted an .865 OPS against righties in 124 at-bats a season ago. Thomson said the Phillies would occasionally mix Hall in against left-handed pitching, as they’ve done with Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott this season. The guess here, though, is that almost all the at-bats at first base against left-handed pitching will go to Alec Bohm, with Edmundo Sosa or Josh Harrison then getting a chance to play third base.
With Rhys Hoskins likely out for the season with a torn left ACL and Bryce Harper in the midst of a home run drought that’s now stretched longer than a calendar month, the Phillies have fallen to 18th in the league with 90 home runs. Certainly, it makes sense for the Phillies to add Hall’s power bat back into the lineup right now. Whether there will still be a fit for him in a few weeks is unclear.
The Phillies haven’t put a date on when Harper will begin playing first base, but given that his ability — or lack thereof — will determine how the team acts in advance of the Aug. 1 trade deadline, it can’t be far off. Perhaps it won’t come on the final roadtrip of the first half of the season, when the Phillies visit Tampa Bay and Miami. But one would think that when the Phillies host the San Diego Padres on July 14 to open up their second-half slate, there’s a good chance Harper will be at first base.
If Harper is playing some first base — it’s unlikely to be seven days a week right at the jump — will there still be room for Hall?
“Possibly, we’ll see where we’re at at that point,” Thomson said, while acknowledging the two had very little overlap in the lineup a season ago.
Even if it’s only three or four days a week that Harper is able to play first base initially, one would think the Phillies would like to get Kyle Schwarber — who has a league-worst -18 defensive runs saved — out of left field and to DH as often as possible. Without the ability to play elsewhere on the diamond, Hall could very well get caught up in a numbers game again if Harper proves capable of playing first base.
The Phillies remain high on Kody Clemens. The 27-year-old will play some other positions at Triple-A Lehigh Valley — second base, third base and “maybe a little left field” — to give the Phillies as many options as possible throughout the remainder of the season.
Also lurking in Triple-A is Jake Cave, who hit into some bad luck early in the season with the Phillies, can play all three outfield positions and has a 1.161 OPS in 47 games for the IronPigs this season. As a left-handed hitting outfielder, there’s not currently a place for Cave with the Phillies. But if Harper can play first base, Schwarber could shift to DH and then Cave would become a possible option for the Phillies in left field against right-handed pitchers. That could perhaps be at the expense of Hall.
For the time being, though, Hall has an opportunity again with the Phillies. If he rejoins the team and immediately gets hot, he may force the Phillies to find a way to keep his bat in the lineup, even once Harper is able to play at first base.
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