Philadelphia Phillies Acquire Outfielder from Royals

The Philadelphia Phillies sent cash to Kansas City for the rights to an outfielder with 2,000 career at-bats in the minor leagues.

The Philadelphia Phillies finalized a trade on Wednesday, acquiring outfielder Brewer Hicklen from the Kansas City Royals.

The Royals announced the trade. Per the transactions on Hicklen’s MiLB.com page, the Phillies gave up cash to acquire him and he’s been assigned to the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate at Lehigh Valley.

Hicklen joined the Royals in 2017 as a seventh-round pick out of UAB. He’s been a part of the Royals’ farm system since then, with the exception of six games he played with the Royals in 2022. He failed to get a hit in four at-bats, striking out four times. He did score a run.

Otherwise, the 27-year-old has spent the rest of his professional career in the minors, with the last two seasons spent with Triple-A Omaha.

In 566 minor-league games and 2,000 official at-bats, Hicklen has slashed .262/.356/.472/.828 with 88 home runs and 313 RBI. Notably, he has 180 career steals and has at times been considered a Top-30 Royals prospect.

The Phillies just recalled outfielder Brandon Marsh from Triple-A after an injury rehab stint and still have Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber, Johan Rojas and Jake Cave on the active roster in the outfield. The Phillies also have Cristian Pache at Triple-A continuing a rehab assignment.

Hicklen was eligible to be traded after the deadline because he wasn’t on a 40-man roster or major league injured list at any point this season.

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