Former Phillies, Mets and Giants outfielder Aaron Altherr, who has spent the past 2 seasons enjoying within the korea Baseball Organization, is currently a free agent and is eyeing a possible MLB comeback once a robust run overseas, MLBTR has learned. A jump to Japan’s NPB is additionally an opening.
Set to show thirty one in Jan, Altherr spent the 2020-21 seasons with the North Carolina Dinos as their primary center fielder, serving to the club to a Korean Series championship and posting consecutive 30-homer/20-steal seasons. in a very combined one,111 plate appearances, Altherr slashed .275/.356/.528 (130 wRC+) with sixty three home runs, 39 doubles, 9 triples and forty two steals (in forty eight attempts). Strikeouts are a problem (27.4%), tho’ he’s conjointly drawn a decent variety of free passes (9.3% overall, as well as ten.1% in 2021).
A ninth-round decide by the Phillies back in 2009, Altherr concisely reached the massive leagues in 2014, got his 1st extended look a year later in 2015, and at that time looked like a possible long-run answer within the piece of ground. He denote a .241/.338/.489 batting line through 161 plate appearances as a tiro (124 wRC+), squarely golf stroke himself into the team’s piece of ground combine. However, 2016 was mostly a lost season. Altherr had articulatio plana surgery that Apr, and whereas he created it back to the sphere late within the summer, his .202/.304/.293 slash showed that he clearly wasn’t at full strength.
In 2017, Altherr bounced back with a .272/.340/.516 batting line through what’s still a career-high (in MLB) 412 plate appearances. He swatted nineteen home runs for the Phils that season whereas seeing time in the least 3 piece of ground spots.
With the Phillies’ Salim Santana linguistic communication pushing Rhys Hoskins into left field in 2018 and Odubel Herrera then entrenched in center field, Altherr found himself shove with Nick Williams (who’d had a solid 2017 season himself) for enjoying time in right field. Altherr started the season in a very slump and ne’er very recovered, batting simply .181/.295/.333 in 285 plate appearances.
Philadelphia’s subsequent signings of St. Andrew McCutchen and Bryce harpist utterly scoured the trail to enjoying time for Altherr in 2019. He was selected for assignment in early could, bouncing quickly from the Phillies, to the Giants (who gave him one plate appearance), to the Mets via waivers. Altherr struggled in thirty five plate appearances with the Mets before being outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse, wherever he hit well however spent a notable chunk of your time on the out of action list.
The prospect of a warranted seven-figure pay lured Altherr to the Dinos, and he’s taken home over $2.3MM throughout his time in South Korea. He’ll probably have interest from the Dinos and different KBO clubs in representation, however opportunities in Japan and definitely back within the Majors can be additional remunerative.
Overall, Altherr incorporates a .219/.308/.402 batting line in one,156 big league plate appearances, but his .275/.356/.528 slash within the KBO a minimum of offers the promise that he might do additional with a bigger chance than he received throughout his stop-and-start Phillies tenure. We’ve seen some of former league nutty build palmy returns once star in South Korea, as well as Eric Thames River and Darin FTO.
Altherr is 2 years younger than FTO was at the time of his come, associate degreed as long as he’s a viable center field possibility in an offseason wherever there ar few offered choices at the position (particularly currently that oscine Marte has signed), Altherr can be viewed as a noteworthy roll of the dice for a team seeking comparatively cheap piece of ground facilitate. The looming opposition for sure complicates matters — groups in Japan and South Korea probably don’t care to attend on free-agent choices whereas MLB is beneath a dealing freeze — however Altherr got to a minimum of have some days to determine interest before that wrench is thrown into the market.
