The Phillies and infielder Vimael Machin have agreed to a minor league contract, reports Melissa Lockard of The Athletic (Twitter link). Machin himself all but confirmed as much, thanking the Phils for a new opportunity in a tweet of his own.
Machin, 29, has spent the past three seasons with the A’s, who selected him out of the Cubs organization in the 2019 Rule 5 Draft. He’s seen sparse action at the MLB level, appearing in 112 games and tallying just 361 plate appearances during that time. The resulting .208/.290/.261 slash he’s posted as a big leaguer, understandably, hasn’t exactly been enough to force his way into the lineup more frequently.
That said, Machin has regularly been a terrific hitter at the Triple-A level, and that continued in 2022 when he slashed .324/.401/.457 with more walks (11.3%) than strikeouts (10.3%). Overall, he’s a career .307/.400/.468 hitter in Triple-A, where he’s walked at a hearty 12.8% clip with just a 14.9% strikeout rate. Machin hasn’t posted plus defensive metrics at any position in the Majors, but he’s played all four infield slots in the big leagues in addition to spending 23 games in left field in the minors.
The Phillies already have a deep infield mix, with defensive standout Edmundo Sosa likely ticketed as their primary infield option off the bench. Newly acquired infielder/outfielder Kody Clemens gives them another reserve option as well. However, the vast majority of Phillies players who are on the 40-man roster but ticketed to open the season in the minors are pitchers and outfielders. The organization is fairly thin on infield options in the upper minors, so bringing in a productive Triple-A veteran who can handle multiple infield spots makes some sense.
miggywrld
He is the machine!!!!!!!
ruff kuntry
This machine is broken.
CarverAndrews
I would just like to say Welcome to the Machine…
Yankee Clipper
Arnold says: “Viva La Machine…..baby”
longines64
Ex Machina
Yankee Clipper
Alicia Vikander?
sherlock_
Machín Forever
brucebochyisthemarlboroman
I for one am elated to have our new Machin overlords and wish them all the success they deserve.
BenBenBen
Stop writing like this:
“The resulting .208/.290/.261 slash he’s posted as a big leaguer, understandably, hasn’t exactly been enough to force his way into the lineup more frequently.”
When you can write like this:
“Understandably, the resulting .208/.290/.261 slash he’s posted as a big leaguer hasn’t exactly been enough to force his way into the lineup more frequently.”
HalfBaked McBride
As a VCU Ram alum, this makes me SO happy!!
loandinside
As Dallas Braden would sing in the tv booth: “He’s just a glove Machin,
And I won’t work for nobody but you (yeah ba–by)”