The Philadelphia Phillies announced some roster moves prior to their series finale against Miami on Thursday. Utilityman Buddy Kennedy has been called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, Aaron Nola was moved to the 60-day IL with his stress fracture in his rib which had popped up while he was healing his right ankle sprain. Weston Wilson was optioned to Lehigh Valley to make room on the 26-man roster for the team.
Phillies promote Kennedy
Kennedy has been crushing the baseball with the IronPigs since being sent down to Triple-A back on April 3. In 61 games, he slashed .283/.388/.447 with an .835 OPS with eight home runs and 40 RBIs. He turned an impressive month of May hitting .358 with six homers and driving in 24 runs to help earn the International League Hitter of the Month award, joining Otto Kemp who took home the honor in April.
However, Kennedy has cooled off a bit, hitting just .185 (10-for-54) in 15 games in June. Kennedy could have been made available to the rest of the 29 teams due to his minor-league deal.
This marks the second stint with the big league team after appearing in eight games with the Phillies last season where he hit .182. He also has had a cup of coffee with the Tigers last year along with the Diamondbacks in 2022 and 2023.
Nola’s return pushed back
With the veteran righty being placed on the 60-day IL, that means the earliest he can return to action is July 14. It would be more than likely that his actual return date will be later than that as he will certainly need to get make a few rehab starts to ramp back up. Nola has not pitched in a game since May 14. It was game two of a doubleheader against St. Louis where he gave up a season-high nine earned runs in just 3.2 innings of work.
Wilson sent to Triple-A
It had been a tough stretch for Wilson both offensively and defensively. With a remaining option left, Wilson was the odd man out as the Phillies juggled their roster. In 20 games this season, Wilson hit just .194 with a home run and four RBIs but did post a .310 on-base percentage thanks to six walks. He missed the almost a month to begin the season with an injury he suffered in spring training and was platooning with Max Kepler out in left field. On the roster to punish left-handed pitching which he has shown capabilities of doing in the bigs, Wilson was unable to have success against southpaws, slashing .172/.294/.172 in 34 plate appearances.
Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images
