PHOENIX, AZ: According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Phillies are "keeping an eye on" Jake McCarthy as potential outfield support as they try to polish a good squad.
The Diamondbacks' ability to make the trade by the deadline would obviously rely on whether or not they are still in the running for the playoffs, and even in that case, Arizona would probably be reluctant to deal an outfielder under contract through 2028.
Though his stock has fluctuated during his first two complete MLB seasons, McCarthy has previously been discussed a lot in trade speculations.
McCarthy was a hot topic during the offseason of 2022 as the D'Backs attempted to offload their excess of left-handed hitting outfielders after placing fourth in the NL Rookie of the Year vote.
(In the end, it was Daulton Varsho who was traded for Gabriel Moreno and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in December 2022, sending them to the desert.)
McCarthy struggled in his sophomore season last year, hitting .243/.318/.326 in 312 plate appearances. After that, he was sent to Triple-A and missed the Diamondbacks' postseason run due to an unrelated ailment.
In exchange for pitching prospect Cristian Mena this past winter, Arizona reportedly offered the White Sox either McCarthy or Dominic Fletcher; Chicago chose to acquire Fletcher, according to a report from Nightengale in February.
McCarthy has performed admirably in his second act with the Diamondbacks, assuming his time with the team was indeed on the verge of ending. In yesterday’s game against the Padres, McCarthy launched his third home run of the year.
Through 160 PA, he was hitting .268/.354/.370 going into Sunday's play. With relatively modest power and middling barrel and hard-hit ball rates (McCarthy's 22.5% hard-hit ball rate is barely in the second percentile of all batters), yesterday’s home run was exceptional for McCarthy.
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