Phillies Cut Ties With Former Top Prospect

With the World Series officially in the books, the MLB offseason is starting to heat up as teams start making roster moves in preparation for next year.

That includes the Philadelphia Phillies, who announced on Friday that they are moving on from veteran utilityman Scott Kingery. The Phillies are declining his $13 million club option for 2024, which means he will receive a $1 million buyout and become a free agent.

It's a disappointing ending for Kingery's tenure in Philadelphia, which got off to such a promising start. The Phillies took him in the second round of the 2015 MLB Draft and he quickly rose through the minors, establishing himself as one of the best prospects in baseball. Heading into 2018, MLB Pipeline rated him as the No. 1 prospect at second base in the entire sport, and he was rewarded with a six-year, $24 million extension before even playing his first MLB game.

Kingery made his big-league debut that year, and while he struggled initially (.605 OPS), his sophomore campaign was much better. He showcased his amazing versatility with 19 home runs, 15 steals and a .788 OPS in 2019 while playing six different positions, accumulating 2.5 WAR in the process. He was only 25 and his career appeared to be just taking off.

Unfortunately, that turned out to be the peak of Kingery's time with the Phillies. injuries and underperformance prevented him from replicating his early success in the years that followed.

Kingery's playing time steadily decreased, from 36 games in 2020 to 15 in 2021 to just one appearance in 2022 (and none in 2023). He looked totally overmatched at the plate when he did play, batting .144/.204/.250 with more than twice as many strikeouts (47) than hits (19). 

After watching Kingery spend most of the past three years at Triple-A trying to get his swing back, Philadelphia decided the time had finally come to cut the cord. He turns 30 in the spring and after scarcely playing the last four years, it's hard to imagine him being an impact player at the MLB level again.

The Phillies showed a lot of patience with Kingery over the last few years. On Friday, their patience finally ran out.