Scott Kingery has been traded to the Los Angeles Angels for cash considerations, the Phillies announced Friday, thus ending one of the stranger player tenures in the franchise that will always be plagued by the though of 'what could've been.'
Kingery was a second-round draft pick by the Phillies (48th overall) in the 2015 MLB Draft out of the University of Arizona, and was once thought to be a top infield prospect, key to the club's next great core.
The Phillies have traded INF/OF Scott Kingery to LAA in exchange for cash considerations.
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) November 1, 2024
The organization, under the previous front office regime of general manager Matt Klentak and president Andy MacPhail, was so sure of that in fact that they wanted to get ahead of Kingery's potential market and signed him to a six-year, $24 million deal at the end of spring training in 2018 when he was set to make the major league roster.
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Kingery's career, through struggles and injury, just never took off, however, and the next few years only saw him get lost in the shuffle within the minor-league system as big-money names like Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto and later, higher-end draft picks like Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott took hold.
Kingery, over five seasons, has a career major league line of .229/.280/.387 with 30 homers, 62 doubles, and six triples, but he has only played 16 games for the Phillies on brief call-ups since 2021 – with only a single appearance in 2022.
With the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs, where Kingery has been a regular for the past several seasons, he slashed .268/.316/.488 with 25 home runs, 17 doubles, and 25 stolen bases with this past 2024 campaign.
At 30 years old, maybe the Angels can offer Kingery another shot at a major league career.
The Phillies, meanwhile, will fully close the book on a hope that never came to be.
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