Coming into spring training, the Phillies had themselves a variety of outfield depth behind projected starters Odubel Herrera and Aaron Altherr. Peter Bourjos, Tyler Goeddel along with Cody Asche all gave the team some depth in the outfield, but with Altherr out 4-6 months, all of a sudden, that depth doesn't look too deep. To make things worse, Cody Asche, who saw some time in the outfield last season, 63 games to be exact, had an MRI on his oblique and it revealed a strain of the muscle.
Asche has had a setback. MRI yesterday revealed a Grade 1 strain of his oblique. He will stop all hitting. #Phillies
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) March 10, 2016
Although it is only a Grade 1 strain, last spring Darin Ruf suffered an oblique strain that had him out of action for 4-6 weeks. Asche hasn't seen any playing time this spring and suffered his injury in late February. Things have not improved since.
Beyond the obvious options to take a look at now, the Phillies also have Darnell Sweeney, Cedric Hunter and David Lough in camp if push comes to shove.
Last season for the Phillies, Asche hit just .245 with 22 doubles, 12 home runs and 39 RBI's. Asche is a guy that needed a strong spring showing to instill some confidence in the front office, but it seems that his debut will be postponed for now as the Phils continue to mull over outfield options as the spring season rolls along.
