David Dahl and Austin Brice agree to minor league contracts with Philadelphia Phillies

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) — Outfielder David Dahl and reliever Austin Brice agreed to minor league contracts with the Philadelphia Phillies and were at big league spring training on Sunday.

Dahl, 29, was an All-Star with Colorado in 2019 and started last season with San Diego. He went 1 for 9 with a solo homer, then was put on the injured list because of a strained right quadriceps. Dahl hit .265 with one homer and 10 RBIs in 17 games with Triple-A El Paso and elected to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment.

He signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers and hit .282 with eight homers and 39 RBIs in 54 games at Triple A-Oklahoma City, then became a free agent again.

Dahl, the 10th overall pick in the 2012 amateur draft, has a .271 career average with 43 homers and 161 RBIs in parts of six seasons.

Philadelphia appears set in the outfield with Brandon March, Nick Castellanos, Johan Rojas and Whit Merrifield, who has a pending agreement on an $8 million, one-year contract.

“Another depth piece,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said of Dahl. “Had a couple really good years in Colorado. Former first round pick. And he’s got some power. I don’t know what’s happened in the last couple of years.”

Merrifield, 35, earned his third All-Star selection last year, when he batted .272 with 11 homers, 67 RBIs and 26 steals for Toronto.

“Really excited about Whit. We talked about two weeks ago, me and him, had some conversation about Philly,” Phillies star Bryce Harper said.

Brice, a 31-year-old right-hander, pitched in seven big league seasons for Miami (2016, '19), Cincinnati (2017-18), Boston (2020-21) and Pittsburgh (2022).

“He was pretty good in the cage today,” Thomson said. “Kind of a little three-quarter (delivery), really heavy ball, and secondary stuff’s good. I'd heard — I didn’t hear this from Austin — but that he got away from his changeup last year, and he threw a couple of them in the cage today and they're really good. So he's an interesting guy.”

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