Cody Asche, back at third for now, just happy to get playing time

Share

BOSTON – Yes, Cody Asche still had an infielder’s glove.

No, he did not expect to use it again.

Nearly four months after moving from third base to left field, Asche was back at third for Friday night’s series opener against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.

And with Maikel Franco still nursing a fractured left wrist, Asche could stay there for a while.

That wasn’t the plan on May 11 when Phillies officials, in preparation for the highly regarded Franco’s arrival from the minors, sent Asche to Triple A for a crash course on playing left field.

Asche returned to the majors three weeks later, an outfielder on the lineup card – and in his mind.

“I had 100 percent crossed the line to being an outfielder,” he said.

But he’s happy to get some time at third base as the season winds down. The team has added several outfielders in recent weeks and the need to look at them has cut into Asche’s playing time.

“It’s good to play,” Asche said. “And in my case, I probably haven’t performed as well as they would have liked. I have to do whatever I can to get in the lineup.”

Asche, 25, entered Friday night hitting .249 with seven homers, 24 RBIs and a .673 OPS in 345 at-bats. He had 87 strikeouts.

His transition to the outfield had not gone badly. In fact, interim manager Pete Mackanin rated him as average defensive outfielder. But the Phillies are looking for more offense out of the corner spots and are auditioning Darnell Sweeney and Aaron Altherr this month. Sweeney started in left field Friday night, Altherr in right. Odubel Herrera played center. Mackanin acknowledged that he’d like to give this mix a significant look this month.

When Franco first went down in mid-August, team officials said they did not want to move Asche around. But with Franco healing slowly, the team rethought the matter.

“It affords me a chance to get at-bats for Asche,” Mackanin said. “Even though we didn’t want to do it, it makes sense to get him the at-bats. I talked to Cody and he's all for it.”

Asche said he does not believe he’s been moved too much, but come season’s end he’d like to have an idea what the team’s plans are for him.

“I’m sure we’ll have a conversation so I’ll know what I need to focus on in the offseason,” he said. “We’ll see. If it’s a utility guy, it’s a utility guy. If it’s outfield, it’s outfield. If it’s third base, it’s third base.”

Friday night, it was third base.

Contact Us