The Royals announced that outfielder Brewer Hicklen has been traded to the Phillies. The return on the deal wasn’t listed, though trades of this nature usually see cash considerations going the other way. Hicklen was eligible to be traded after the deadline because he wasn’t on a 40-man roster or major league injured list at any point this season.
[Related: How to Acquire Players After the Trade Deadline]
Hicklen, 27, will join a new organization for the first time in his career, as he was drafted by the Royals in 2017 and has been with them ever since. He has climbed to the upper levels of the minors and even got to make his major league debut in 2022, getting into six games as a COVID replacement player but striking out in all four of his plate appearances.
He has occasionally been considered one of the Royals’ top 30 prospects, with his best attribute being his speed. He’s racked up double-digit steals in each of his professional seasons, often getting into the 30-40 range. He also has notable power at the plate but has often paired home runs with big strikeout totals.
He spent most of last year at Triple-A, getting into 130 games there. He hit 28 homers and swiped 35 bags but was also punched out in 36.1% of his plate appearances. His .248/.348/.502 batting line still amounted to a wRC+ of 122, despite the strikeout concerns. Here in 2023, he’s been back in Triple-A, getting into 61 contests. He’s reduced his strikeout rate to 24.6% but with diminished production overall. His .233/.338/.451 line translates to a wRC+ of 93, though he’s added another 15 steals in that time.
Rosters are set to expand from 26 to 28 players in September, a time when many clubs like to add a speedy player to the bench for pinch running purposes, a role that Hicklen would certainly be a good candidate for. By acquiring him prior to September 1, he will also be eligible to join the Phils in the postseason. He will qualify for minor league free agency at season’s end if not added to the 40-man roster. For now, he’ll add some minor league depth behind the club’s regular outfield of Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber, Johan Rojas and Jake Cave.
“Phillies acquire Brewers from Royals”, read way too fast
Most Brewers are aquired from Milwaukee. This is a rare occurrence.
brewerhicklen.com/blog
Holy moly, he struck out over 200 times in the minors last year. That’s not easy.
Mark Reynolds 2.0
why more of these players that strike out 30% of the time? we have enough of them that’s why we can’t get any God damn good productive that’s why either we sit there and score nine runs a game or we can’t score because when we get people on base we can’t get them over because we strike out with them time we don’t have to play small ball we can’t move Runners over so why do we continue to get high strikeout power people get contact people get people that can move Runners over I’m getting sick and tired of watching this offense the same thing I know they’ve been good recently I know what happened last year but it’s so Manning to watch them record 27 oz in games we lose but 13 to 14 of them always seem to be strikeouts first and second no else second and third one out we can’t score runs without hidden homers yeah not long
Punctuation is hard(.)
Since when is scoring nine runs in a game not productive?
Well that clinches it, the Harper move to 1b is now permanent……
On a lighter note……in Kevin Long we trust…
And at least he’s “built like” Trout?
A platoon mate for Schwarber who can also run.
I guess the Weston Wilson era is over.
Weston plays plenty of INF, which is a much thinner area for the Phillies.
”…regular outfield of Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber, Johan Rojas and Jake Cave.
And Marsh. And Pache.
Cash Considerations is Royals owner John Sherman’s favorite player.
Second is Tax Hike – the guy that’s going to get him a public ally funded stadium.
Maybe Long can fix him., something is there with wheels
That Dombrowski guy…..
Milwaukee should have gotten him.