Major League free agency has not started yet, but players in the minors can declare for free agency under certain circumstances. One of those circumstances is that if the player has been outrighted from the major league roster two or more times after they have gained major league experience. The Lehigh Valley IronPigs roster held two players who met that requirement and both have opted for free agency.
Infielder Donovan Walton and reliever Devin Sweet both entered free agency recently. The Phillies had acquired Walton from the New York Mets during the regular season and assigned him to Lehigh Valley. They later did add him to the MLB roster, but outrighted him when they needed a roster spot, which made him eligible for free agency. Combining his minor league stats from both Triple-A Syracuse (Mets) and Lehigh Valley, Walton hit 13-64-.270/.356/.396 for the two teams, playing in 123 games. With the Phillies, Walton played in two games and went 1-for-8 (.125). As a major leaguer, Walton has also played for San Francisco and Seattle, getting into 72 games and putting together a line of 4-24-.172/.223/.298 between the three stops in the majors.
Sweet pitched in seven games for Seattle and Oakland in 2023, posting a 10.38 ERA in 8.2 innings of work. With Lehigh Valley this season, Sweet looked to be a valuable relief arm at times, but other times struggled to get hitters out. In 44 relief appearances and two spot starts for the IronPigs, Sweet pitched 51.1 innings and went 3-1 with two saves and a 5.08 ERA. While Sweet did not pitch for the Phillies this season, he was on their 40-man roster coming into Spring Training and was later outrighted to Lehigh Valley where he spent the season.
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As with major league free agents, minor league free agents are not allowed to sign with another team until the MLB free agency period begins, which is on the sixth day after the conclusion of the World Series.
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