Darick Hall returns to Phillies’ 40-man roster, heading back to triple A Lehigh Valley for now
Hall was the Phillies’ opening-day first baseman after Rhys Hoskins’ season-ending knee injury. But he tore a ligament in his right thumb on April 5 and had surgery a few days later.
Darick Hall isn’t coming back to play in the majors just yet, but his return from thumb surgery caused a Phillies roster crunch just the same.
With Hall’s 20-day minor league assignment expiring Monday, the Phillies reinstated him from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to triple-A Lehigh Valley. But they needed to add Hall back to the 40-man roster, which was filled to capacity. The casualty: outfielder Dalton Guthrie, who was designated for assignment.
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Hall rose to be the Phillies’ opening-day first baseman after Rhys Hoskins’ season-ending knee injury in spring training. But he tore a ligament in his right thumb on April 5 and had surgery a few days later.
In Hall’s absence, Kody Clemens has played first base against most right-handed pitchers and Alec Bohm against lefties. Clemens has played well after a slow start. In his last 22 games, he’s batting .274/.329/.384 with five doubles and one homer. Overall, he’s batting .248/.302/.402 with four homers.
Clemens’ production combined with the option to send Hall to the minors without exposing him to waivers led the Phillies to keep the status quo at first base, at least for now.
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“D-Hall has been out for a while, so he needs at-bats,” manager Rob Thomson said recently. “He needs to get his rhythm. He needs to get his timing. When he does, he’s a player.”
Hall batted .271/.338/.475 with two homers in 15 games on his minor-league assignment, including .255/.322/.471 in 13 games for Lehigh Valley.
Guthrie has bounced between the majors and triple A. He was used sparingly over two stints with the Phillies, going 4-for-24 (.167) with one double. The Phillies optioned him to Lehigh Valley last week when outfielder Cristian Pache returned from the injured list.
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The Phillies will face another 40-man roster decision this week when they reinstate catcher Rafael Marchan from the injured list. Marchan, who was sidelined after surgery on his left hand, also is expected to be optioned to triple A.