For the first time since 2002, which was the second last season that the Philadelphia Phillies played in Veterans Stadium, Chase Utley won't play for the Phillies in 2016. Despite that, Utley may have had a small positive impact on someone who will play for the Phillies in 2016, and hopefully beyond.
With the No. 1 pick in December's Rule 5 draft, the Phillies selected Tyler Goeddel from the Tampa Bay Rays' farm-system, hoping to land a long-term outfielder like they did in the 2014 Rule 5 draft with Odubel Herrera.
Goeddel told Matt Gelb of The Philadelphia Inquirer that Utley and him had a positive interaction shortly after he joined the organization that Utley spent parts of 13 seasons with.
Soon after Tyler Goeddel was picked first in the Rule 5 draft in December, he took a vacation to Mexico with his brother, Mets righthander Erik Goeddel. While in Cabo, the brothers happened to see Chase Utley, who invited them to a round of golf.
Utley, after 18 holes, fired a text to Cody Asche and Cameron Rupp.
"He just told them to take care of me," Tyler Goeddel said. "It was a nice thing for Chase to do, for sure. I appreciated it."
Gelb says that the connection that allowed this golf outing to take place was that Utley and the older of the two Goeddel's, Erik, went to UCLA. They didn't, obviously, go at the same time, but the two certainly have crossed paths in the big leagues, given that Erik has been on a team that has faced off with Utley both in the regular season and the postseason.
In a strange way, Tyler and Utley aren't in all that different positions this year. Utley, though he is scheduled to make $7 million this season, is unlikely to get a majority of starts over Howie Kendrick. Still, if Utley rebounds from an injury-riddled 2015, he'll get his fair chance of at-bats and chances to start. Goeddel is at a very different point in his career than Utley, but he's in a similar situation in that if he makes the best of some early season opportunities, he could find himself playing more as the season goes on.
Tim Kelly (@TimKellySports) is the Managing Editor of Philliedelphia.com, focusing on news and features.
