The Phillies reached agreement with utilityman Dylan Moore on a minor league contract, reports Will Sammon of The Athletic. The Klutch Sports client receives a non-roster invitation to MLB camp.
Moore is a veteran of seven big league seasons. He’d spent his entire MLB career with the Mariners until they released him last August. Moore signed a minor league deal with the Rangers and was quickly called up after Corey Seager needed an appendectomy. Moore spent the final month of the season on the MLB roster and appeared in 18 games as a Ranger.
That was a homecoming for the Central Florida product, who began his professional career as a seventh-round pick by the Rangers in 2015. Texas traded him to the Braves before he made it out of A-ball. Moore bounced around the minors before establishing himself in Seattle upon signing there as a minor league free agent.
A right-handed hitter, Moore has done the majority of his damage against left-handed pitching in his career. A .216 batting average against southpaws isn’t going to turn many heads, but he has walked at a 12% rate and has 28 homers in 819 career plate appearances with the platoon advantage. Moore didn’t produce against pitchers of either handedness last season, yet he was a decent role player for the majority of his time in the Pacific Northwest.
His offensive approach skews heavily toward the three true outcomes, particularly strikeouts and walks. Moore has a trio of double digit home run seasons and has stolen at least 11 bases in all but one year of his career. He’s not a burner but has generally done well to take extra bases when opportunities present themselves.
Moore will vie for a multi-positional role off Rob Thomson’s bench. He has experience everywhere on the diamond except catcher. He shouldn’t play much shortstop or center field but rates as a solid or better defender anywhere else. Edmundo Sosa will be the top utility infielder, while Otto Kemp has a similar defensive skillset to Moore and also hits right-handed. Depth outfielders Johan Rojas and Pedro León, plus non-roster invitee Bryan De La Cruz, also bat from that side. The Phils will have a lot of competition for potential platoon partners for Brandon Marsh and prospect Justin Crawford, who’ll go into camp with a good chance to win the center field job.
