Minor League Baseball

Philadelphia Phillies Sign Former Cleveland Guardians Impact Slugger to MiLB Deal

Oscar Mercado, who hit 15 homers for the Cleveland Guardians as a rookie in 2019, is looking to re-start his major league career. He's now in camp with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Brady Farkas|
Cleveland Guardians right fielder Oscar Mercado (35) singles in the third inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Progressive Field in 2022.
Cleveland Guardians right fielder Oscar Mercado (35) singles in the third inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Progressive Field in 2022. | David Richard-Imagn Images

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Cleveland GuardiansPhiladelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies announced they have come to an agreement with former Cleveland Guardians slugger Oscar Mercado.

They've invited him to spring training, as well as former Red Sox utility player Christian Arroyo.

Mercado, 30, has spent parts of five years in the big leagues with the Guardians, Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. He debuted in 2019, making an immediate impact for Cleveland. He hit 15 homers in 115 games, also stealing 15 bases and registering 54 RBI. He hit 25 doubles and looked like a building block for Cleveland moving forward, but he's never been able to replicate the sucess of that season.

He hit just .128 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season and then hit .224 in 72 games in 2021. He hit .207 in 2022 but played just 55 games and then resurfaced for 20 games with the Cardinals in 2023.

He did not appear in a major league game in 2024, spending the year in Triple-A for the Padres and Tigers. He hit just .222 across 93 games. He hit only .169 in winter ball this season in Puerto Rico.

It will be a tough task for him to make the Phillies, who have among the most loaded rosters in all of baseball, but perhaps he can show well enough that someone will call Philadelphia about him.

Lifetime, he's a .255 hitter in the minor leagues with 69 homers and 384 RBI.

The Phillies won the National League East last season but were beaten in the NLDS by the New York Mets.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is the senior writer for “Minor League Baseball on SI’’ and the host of “The Payoff Pitch’’ podcast, which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. Follow Brady on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.

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