Phillies Outfielder Suffers Torn Meniscus

The Philadelphia Phillies have lost an outfielder for the foreseeable future, as they've announced that defensive whiz Cristian Pache suffered a torn meniscus in his knee during Friday night's game against the Houston Astros.

Prior to today’s game, Phillies placed OF Cristian Pache on the 10-day injured list with a right knee meniscus tear. To fill his spot on the 26-man roster, OF Dalton Guthrie was recalled from triple-A Lehigh Valley.

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 29, 2023

Pache will require surgery and will be out indefinitely.  

Cristian Pache will have surgery, date not set yet and no firm timetable yet. Rob Thomson said he’s hopeful Pache will return this season.

— Corey Seidman (@CSeidmanNBCS) April 29, 2023

Manager Rob Thomson is still hopeful that the young outfielder will return at some point this season. 

Pache was normally used as a defensive replacement, in center and in left, but recently had shown quite a bit of life in his bat, with five hits in his last three games, raising his average to .360, with a .960 OPS. Of course, with a career average of less than .170 coming into the season, that small sample size won't translate at the same rate, but Pache is only 24 with time to continue to find his groove.  

The Phillies acquired Pache in a last-minute addition on the eve of the start of the regular season, in a trade with the Oakland A's. 

Outfielder Dalton Guthrie has been recalled from Triple-A to replace Pache on the roster. He'd been hitting .278 with an .861 OPS, three stolen bases and a couple of longballs in 21 games at Lehigh Valley.

Photo: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports