The Phillies re-signed outfielder Pedro León to a minor league contract, according to the MLB.com transaction tracker. He’s back with Triple-A Lehigh Valley but no longer occupies a 40-man roster spot.
Philadelphia released León on Saturday when they selected infielder Felix Reyes onto the roster. León had been placed on the minor league injured list with a right hamstring strain a couple weeks ago. Teams cannot place injured players on outright waivers, so the Phils released León to take him off the roster.
It’s unclear how long León will be sidelined. The Phillies evidently still like him as a depth piece but were willing to risk him signing elsewhere if needed to drop him from the 40-man. Philadelphia claimed León off waivers from Baltimore early in the offseason. He’s hitting .283 but has fanned 19 times in his first 53 plate appearances with Lehigh Valley.
León is a .253/.354/.443 hitter in just over 400 Triple-A games. His MLB experience consists of seven games for the Astros two years ago. León was once a highly-regarded amateur signee out of Cuba based on his power-speed combination. That has been undercut by strikeout issues that have made him an average Triple-A hitter.
