Phillies Reassign Four Young Position Players to Minor League Camp

The Phillies on Friday morning continued to whittle down their big-league spring training roster ahead of Opening Day, shedding four position players.

They have 54 guys left in camp after optioning or reassigning 15 since Saturday.

Six of those 54 — Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Brad Keller, Cristopher Sanchez, Aaron Nola, Dante Nori — are not actually in camp at the moment because they are playing in the World Baseball Classic.

Another four — Zack Wheeler, Orion Kerkering, Keaton Anthony and Max Lazar — are either dealing with injury or ramping up from injury. Wheeler is reportedly ticketed for live batting practice next.

Here were Friday's cuts:

2B Aroon Escobar

The 21-year-old, right-handed-hitting second base prospect went 2-for-19 with a double, a walk and four strikeouts in his first taste of big-league camp. (He played in one game last March.)

Escobar was ranked last week by MLB Pipeline as the No. 6 prospect in the Phillies' organization, a spot ahead of Nori. He played at three levels in 2025 — Single-A Clearwater, High-A Jersey Shore and a handful of games with Double-A Reading — and hit .270/.361/.413 with 15 home runs and 62 RBI in 538 plate appearances.

With Clearwater, Escobar hit .285/.377/.452, ranking third in the Florida State League in batting average, seventh in on-base percentage and fifth in slugging. He figures to play at Double-A this season.

5-for-5 with a homer, 3 runs, and 2 RBI?

Have yourself a day, Aroon Escobar 🙌 pic.twitter.com/7EMj53a6ZM
— Phillies Player Development (@PhilsPlayerDev) May 19, 2025

SS Bryan Rincon

Rincon is a 22-year-old shortstop billed for his defense whose glove Phillies manager Rob Thomson believes is big-league ready today.

"If this kid can hit — I mean, he can play in the big leagues right now at shortstop, he's that good of a defender — so if he can hit a little bit, we've got something here," Thomson said two weekends ago.

That's a gigantic if, obviously, and has prevented many sure-handed fielders from making it to or staying in the major leagues. Rincon has hit just .206 in 974 minor-league plate appearances, albeit selectively with a .337 OBP and two 50-walk seasons.

This spring, the Phillies pushed him toward a more aggressive approach and he found early success. Rincon went 5-for-21 (.238) with two doubles, a triple, a homer, four RBI and two stolen bases.

"Just trying to end my at-bat early in the count," Rincon said. "Looking for the fastball early in the count pretty much. Be aggressive and just attack."

He figures to play this season at Double-A.

3B Carson DeMartini

The 23-year-old DeMartini played a lot defensively this spring, entering Friday tied with Rincon for the team lead with 14 appearances. The lefty-hitting DeMartini went 2-for-16 (.125) with a homer, two walks and six strikeouts.

DeMartini earned his way from High-A Jersey Shore to Double-A Reading last season by hitting .284 with a .402 OBP in 53 games for the BlueClaws. He did not hit with Reading, .202/.291/.288 in 66 games. That is likely where he will begin in 2026.

OF Dylan Campbell

The Phillies acquired the 23-year-old Campbell from the Dodgers in January 2025 in exchange for international bonus pool money that Los Angeles used to sign Roki Sasaki. Campbell played at High-A and Double-A last year in the Phillies' system and hit just .215 with a .298 OBP.

He did have a successful stint in the Arizona Fall League, though, hitting .304/.419/.625 in 19 games. Campbell was rated by Baseball America after last season as the best defensive outfielder in the Phillies' farm system.