Last night the Philadelphia Phillies sent third baseman Cody Asche down to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. With one of the club's top prospects - third baseman Maikel Franco - tearing up Triple-A, general manager Ruben Amaro may give him the call relatively soon.
Asche was previously speculated to be making a move to left field in order to make room for Franco. He's been getting reps at the position in practice and pre-game workouts, but manager Ryne Sandberg hadn't yet used him in the outfield during an MLB game yet.
"Asche was demoted to garner everyday repetitions in left field with the [Triple-A] IronPigs, a precursor to the looming promotion of third base prospect Maikel Franco," writes Jake Kaplan of the Philadelphia Inquirer. "A natural third baseman, Asche has never played left field in a game. The Phillies obviously didn't deem it wise to have his debut there come in the major leagues."
Asche was slumping badly this month, going 4-for-33 with one run scored, which lowered his slash line to .245/.283/.349. If he's about to undergo a position change, the team likely thought it was best to not have him endure that at the MLB level while he's struggling with the bat.
"For him to be prepared to do that at the major-league level, as an organization we thought it was important for him to go get a number of games and break in that way," Sandberg told Kaplan.
As a result, Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly noted Amaro said Franco is "getting closer and closer" to making his MLB debut and when he's called up it will eventually be "for good," he told Kaplan. The 22-year-old is batting .341/.363/.543 with 14 runs scored, 4 home runs and 19 RBIs in 30 games with Lehigh Valley and is perhaps the top candidate to join the Phillies as the club is enduring a rebuilding process, for which he is an integral aspect.
It's important to note that May 15 is the date to keep in mind with Franco, because as previously detailed with the Kris Bryant/Chicago Cubs situation, the Phillies can wait until that day to promote Franco and delay his free agency by one season.
It's likely they made the move to demote Asche on Monday because pitcher Sean O'Sullivan was ready to be activated from the disabled list and they could afford to put Cesar Hernandez at third base for at least three games as they mull promoting Franco as early as this weekend.
Keep an eye out for the Phillies to make the move in the immediate future.