The Phillies let Roman Quinn become a free agent at the end of last November after a sometimes promising, but often frustrating time with the organization. Quinn has some talent but has been too limited by injuries to make much of an impact. Now, with center field becoming a spot where Phillies players go to get injured, the injury prone Quinn is back with the organization after signing a minor league contract.
This spring, Quinn was in camp with the Miami Marlins, but hit just .083 (1-for-12) and was released this past week. The Phillies are placing him with Triple-A Lehigh Valley. In 178 games over five seasons, Quinn has a career line of 3-38-.228/.306/.355, having spent all of his time with the Phillies who drafted him in the second round of the 2011 Draft out of Port St. Joe High School in Florida. He was drafted as a shortstop, but the Phillies moved him to center field because of the presence of J.P. Crawford, who has since been dealt to Seattle and just signed a five-year extension with the Mariners.
The Phillies had re-signed center fielder Odubel Herrera to play center field or at least split time with Matt Vierling, but Herrera wound up on the IL with an oblique strain. Fortunately, Mickey Moniak was having an eye-opening spring and the plan became to use him in place of Herrera. Then, in the final spring training game, Moniak was hit in the hand with a pitch and wound up on the IL and will miss four to six weeks. With no real depth at the position remaining and no readily available spots on the 40-man roster, the Phillies recalled 23-year old Simon Muzziotti from Reading. Muzziotti missed most of last season because of visa issues and of course, was shelved during the 2020 pandemic season. In the past two seasons he has played just 20 games of pro ball and is nowhere near being MLB ready.
To make room on the 40-man for Quinn, the Phillies may push Moniak to the 60-day IL, which effectively takes him off of the roster and opens a spot. With that move, Moniak could spend the last part of his stint on the IL rehabbing with Lehigh Valley.