Phillies Release Whit Merrifield, Recall Weston Wilson

The Whit Merrifield era is over. On Friday, the Phillies released Whit, and recalled Weston Wilson from AAA. The Phillies announced the move ahead of game 1 of a 3-game series vs the Athletics.

The Phillies signed Whit Merrifield to a 1-year $8 million contract in the offseason. Apart from resigning their own guys, it was the most notable move for them in free agency. As we now know, he didn't make it to the end of the deal.

Whit hit well in Spring training, but as soon as the real games started, it became a massive struggle for the 35 year old Utility Player. He was hitting just .199 with a SLG of .295. He went a month without a single extra-base hit recently, despite getting consistent playing time with all of the injuries.

Now that those players are mostly back, the Phillies have decided they saw enough and cut ties.

In turn, they will call up Weston Wilson for now. Like Merrifield, he can play all over the infield, and at the corners in the outfield.

Weston Wilson crashed onto the radar of Phillies fans last season when he hit a HR in his first career at bat. That moment was upstaged when in the same game Michael Lorenzen threw a no-hitter, but Phillies fans have remembered the name Weston Wilson since then.

Wilson has 18 HRs down in AAA so far this season. The guy has some pop. Can that pop translate consistently to the Majors consistently? We don't know. He will get a chance to prove himself over the next few weeks, but more likely he is only here short-term until the Phillies make whatever moves they plan to make at the trade deadline.

He got a short chance earlier in the season, but went just 0 for 4 in 2 games.

There will be no Phillies in the HR Derby this year. Kyle Schwarber was the only player with any chance to participate, and he declined to. But Phillies players have put on a show in past derbies. So since we have no Phillies to pay attention to tonight, let's go down memory lane to look back at past performances by Phillies players.

Thome was the first Phillies player to ever compete in the Derby. He was coming off an unforgettable season where he slugged 47 homers. It was the year Citizens Bank Park opened. Thome had only recently hit the 400th HR of his career. Thome had 28 homers on the year coming into the derby. So the circumstances around his HR derby participation were incredible.

Unfortunately, his actual performance was far less impressive. The Pride Of Peoria hit only 4 home runs in the Derby. He finished in 6th place and was eliminated in the 1st round. The Derby itself was pretty entertaining. Barry Bonds put on a show, hitting one home run off the Minute Maid Park scoreboard, and also hilariously began the derby by being intentionally walked, which of course is something he was very used to by this point in his career.

Miguel Tejada eventually won this derby. It was a memorable derby overall, just not for the Phillies or Jim Thome.

Now Bobby Abreu's HR Derby performance was anything but forgettable. Not only did he win, but he set what was at the time the record for a HR Total in the derby with 41 total. A record no one would beat until 2016, when Giancarlo Stanton smashed it. But now, so many people have beat it that Abreu doesn't even appear in the top 10 anymore.

At the time it was incredible though. No one had even reached 30 before him. And he went in and hit 41 of them. He started it by putting up 24 in the first round. The total record before him was 27. So in just one round he nearly hit more than every HR Derby participant before him. He slowed down a bit afterward, hitting 6 in round 2, and then 11 in the Final Round to beat Ivan Rodriguez.

He hit 21 more homers than any of his competition. He put on a show, to become the first Phillies player to ever win the derby. He would not be the last, as we saw the next year.

It says a lot about Ryan Howard that winning the 2006 HR Derby was probably the least memorable part of his season. He put up what is still probably the best single season from any Phillies hitter. Swatting 58 home runs, winning the MVP, while hitting .313. Beating the hated David Wright in the finals of the HR Derby? The icing on the cake.

Howard just snuck out of the first round. Of the 4 players to advance, he had the lowest total, with just 8 compared to David Wright's 16. But as many know, the derby is a marathon and not a sprint. And while his competitors lost steam, Howard gained it. He led the way in round 2 with 10, which brought him into a tie with David Wright for the total, who only hit 2 in that round. They both advanced to the Finals. Wright went up first and hit 4. It took Ryan Howard only 5 of his 10 outs to get to 5 and win it all.

No Phillies player has won the derby since Howard. Not only did he win. Not only was it close enough that many Philly fans could travel with the All-Star game taking place in Pittsburgh that year. But he went through one of the most hated players in Philadelphia at the time to do so. Ask a Phillies fan what they think of David Wright and you will get an earful. It was good to see him swatted down by Ryan Howard.

Ryan Howard could not carry the HR Derby magic into 2007. He was a first-round exit this year, getting only 3. It was an important year for the Phillies for other reasons, with them making a miraculous run to win the NL East, and Howard's teammate Jimmy Rollins winning MVP. But Phillies fans did not get the show in the derby they had gotten the previous two years.

It broke up the Phillies two year HR Derby winning streak. But it began a long streak of the Phillies winning the NL East. I think any Phillies fan will take the trade. HR Derbies are fun. Rings and beating the Mets is better.

The part of Chase Utley's HR Derby that people remember is not his performance. That part was mostly forgettable. He hit only 5 and finished in 7th place. What people do remember however is what happened when he was introduced. It was in Yankees Stadium. In case you didn't know, Chase Utley is not a popular man in New York City. Predictably he was booed. To which Utley responded, "Boo? F**K You." while mic'd up. It was vintage Utley. And while some people with no sense of humor got upset about it, it was a great moment.

This derby was perhaps more well known for the show Josh Hamilton put on. He hit a single round record 28 homeruns in round 1. That record stood until 2019 when both Joc Pederson and Vlad Guerrero Jr passed it in the 2nd round. Hamilton would not win the HR Derby though. The first round used up all his energy. He went on to lose to Justin Morneau in the final round.

Utley did not perform well in the HR Derby. But he came out of the year with something better, a World Series Ring. A World Series that led to another infamous hot mic moment for Utley at the parade. When Utley wasn't winning a World Series, he spent most of his time making donations to the swear jar in 2008. No wonder he didn't have the energy to perform very well in this HR Derby.

This would be the last HR Derby Ryan Howard competed in. It would also be the last time any Phillies competed at all for nearly a decade after this. They had gone 6 straight years having a representative. But from 2010 to 2017 no one from the Phillies competed.

Howard put on a pretty decent show. He finished third after hitting 15 home runs in rounds 1 and 2. But he couldn't keep pace with Prince Fielder and Nelson Cruz. Fielder went on to beat Cruz in the finals.

Rhys finally broke a streak to get the Phillies back in the HR Derby. And he put on a pretty good show. He finished 3rd, but that's only because he ran into Kyle Schwarber who put on even more of a show. The two faced off in round 2. Hoskins hit 20. But Schwarber just edged him out with 21. Funnily enough, Schwarber went on to lose to another future Phillie, Bryce Harper. So 3 of the final 4 in this HR Derby, and both finalists are currently Phillies.

Hoskins began the night with an upset win over the 1 seed. He faced off against Jesus Aguilar. The MLB Leader in Homers, vs the guy in the derby with the least homers before the break. And Hoskins pulled it out. And contrary to the popular belief that the derby breaks your swing, it seemed to get Hoskins going. After hitting 14 homers in the first half, Hoskins closed out the year with 20 more.

Despite hitting 19 HRS in the first round, Kyle Schwarber did not make it to round 2. He ran into the great story that was Albert Pujols, who was of course playing in his final season. Albert Pujols hit 20 in round 1 to just beat Kyle Schwarber. Some people think Schwarber intentionally held back to let Pujols win. He did start out slow, then caught fire late.

There were also accusations that the count was off and that Kyle Schwarber actually hit 20, and one of them was not counted. After hitting just 13 in regulation, he caught fire in OT. He was credited with 6, but if you go back and look, it seems like he hit 7. There should have been an extra OT. But there was not. Kyle Schwarber didn't complain, so it is probably not worth us complaining either.

19 was actually the 3rd lowest score in the 1st round. Juan Soto, who went on to win it, hit 18 in round 1. His opponent Jose Ramirez hit just 17. Ronald Acuna also hit 19 in round 1, losing to Pete Alonso who hit 20.

Bohm was an odd choice for the HR derby. He is not a power hitter at all. In fact, that has been the primary criticism of him as a player, that he does not hit enough HRs for a 3B.

And yet, he put on a show at the Derby. he led all participants with 21 HRs in the 1st round. in the Semi-Finals, he forced a swing off with eventual champion Teoscar Hernandez, each hitting 14 in that round. But that was where he ran out of steam, with only 1 HR in the swing off. Still, for a guy who most did not think should even be there, he showed off his power. Just makes you wonder where that power is in actual games.