Phillies might've found their new righty-hitting outfielder in ex-Marlins slugger

The Philadelphia Phillies have a big need at the MLB trade deadline for a few different positions, with right-handed hitting outfield a massive one.

After the injury to Adolis Garcia, the Phillies added Derek Hill, and he had a hot streak for the team, and is a solid bench/depth option. But, they still need a new right-handed hitting outfielder.

They might've resolved that need already before the deadline, as Todd Zolecki of MLB.com shared that Don Mattingly is already handing the keys to the starting right field spot to ex-Miami Marlins slugger Bryan De La Cruz after a hot start with Philadelphia.

Bryan De La Cruz might be Phillies' answer to righty-hitting outfield need

"Rico's been given a decent runway against right-handed pitching," Mattingly said. "It hasn't been as good as we'd like. De La's been getting his hits, and I know he's going to be solid in the outfield and all that. So I don't feel like it's going to be worse than what we're seeing."

While this isn't exactly a ringing endorsement of Cruz as the full-time starting right fielder, Mattingly is seemingly giving him a chance to be such a starter for the team this season.

And, honestly, why not give him such a chance? While it's been just 11 at-bats in five total games, Cruz has been very valuable to the Phillies.

He has eight hits, two runs scored, one double, one home run, one RBI, one walk, and two strikeouts with a. 727 batting average and a 1.841 OPS heading into Wednesday's day-game against the Marlins.

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Of course, this production won't last all season long, but for now, the Phillies have no reason to take him out of the starting lineup, even against right-handed pitching.

To put what he's done in five games into perspective, he's accumulated 0.4 bWAR so far. That's more than he has had in the last 433 games of his big-league career since 2022 before coming to Philadelphia.

Among Phillies players, 0.4 bWAR has him as the seventh-most valuable player on the team this season. He's been more valuable to Philadelphia than Trea Turner, Justin Crawford, Edmundo Sosa, Gabriel Rincones Jr., and Alec Bohm.

It might be too soon to crown De La Cruz as the solution to the right-handed hitting outfield need, but he's done enough so far to at least get a serious look at that spot through the August 3 deadline, and potentially beyond.

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