There are a couple IronPigs players who have to be wondering what they have to do to get back to the majors. One has spent a good amount of time with the Phillies, while the other had a short and somewhat unexpected stint at the beginning of last season. The trade deadline and a couple roster moves by the Phillies have come and gone and Scott Kingery and Simon Muzziotti are both still with Lehigh Valley.

The most egregious of the two moves – or lack thereof – is outfielder Simon Muzziotti. Last month the Phillies needed an outfielder and selected Johan Rojas from Double-A Reading rather than Muzziotti. That made some sense since the team was looking for a right-handed bat to pair with center fielder Brandon Marsh, who bats left-handed. Now, Marsh wound up on the IL with a knee contusion, so the Phillies needed a replacement and again, overlooked Muzziotti.

The 24-year-old is a left-handed bat and is batting .322 with four home runs and 46 RBI to go with 24 stolen bases. As far as being the type of player the Phillies were looking for, Muzziotti is somewhat of a cleaner shaven clone of Marsh (8-43-.281, six stolen bases) only with a better penchant for stealing bases.

Perhaps the reason is defense. Muzziotti has made three errors in center field this season to post a .958 fielding percentage, while Marsh’s fielding percentage stands at .981. Most of the innings that Muzziotti has played have come in left field for Lehigh Valley this season where he has made zero errors in 90 chances.

Muzziotti opened last season with the Phillies when they needed a warm body to play center field for a short time and he was already on the 40-man roster, so it did not necessitate another roster move.

Kingery’s story is well known. He went from being a huge prospect to making the club out of spring training in 2018. He also signed a six-year, $254-million deal with the team prior to even playing an inning in the majors. Kingery hit 19 home runs with the Phillies in 2019 only to fall to three home runs and an embarrassing .159 average in 2020. Since then, he has played in just 16 MLB games with a line of 0-0-.053 with the Phillies.

Kingery worked with Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long during the offseason and is batting .265 with 13 home runs and 40 RBI with the IronPigs. He is still owed approximately $2 million for the remainder of the season and has a team option for the next three years, but he is a guy that could possibly help a team down the stretch.

The Phillies decided to cut ties with utility infielder Josh Harrison last week, but instead of bringing up Kingery, they went with Rodolfo Castro, who they acquired from Pittsburgh for pitcher Bailey Falter. Castro is a career .225 hitter in 182 major league games.

When Marsh went down, the Phillies brought up utility player Weston Wilson from Lehigh Valley. Wilson himself is deserving of the promotion and is set to make his major league debut with he Phillies at any time. Wilson has played primarily at short for Lehigh Valley and is experienced at first, third, left and right field as a minor leaguer. With the Pigs, Wilson was batting .260 and closing in on the franchise record of 29 home runs set by Rhys Hoskins in 2017, with Wilson standing at 25 home runs.

The eyebrows raise a little in that Wilson is not a center fielder, where Kingery has at least played some center field for Lehigh Valley.

Muzziotti was mentioned as a potential trade piece in several deals that the Phillies were connected to leading up to last Tuesday’s deadline but was not dealt. Kingery’s name was not highly bandied about, but it might have been worth it to a team to make a below the radar move to acquire the 29-year-old player who has gone from being exclusively a second baseman to being able to play at short, third and in center field.

THE SONG IS OVER… Noah Song cleared waivers and as a Rule 5 player was offered back to the Boston Red Sox. Song was claimed in the Rule 5 Draft by the Phillies and was granted permission to delay his Navy commitment to pursue his baseball career, but after dealing with an injury and going on a rehab assignment, did not impress the Phillies enough to add him to the 40-man roster. On Monday, the Red Sox took him back, officially ending his stint with the Phillies.

BACK IN THE VALLEY… The Phillies promoted pitcher Griff McGarry from Reading to the IronPigs on Friday. McGarry came into the season as the team’s number-three prospect after finishing last season with Lehigh Valley last season and then dealing with an injury to start the 2023 season. McGarry pitched at three different levels last season with a mark of 4-8, 3.71 in 19 starts and eight relief appearances. This season at Reading, he was 1-1 with a 3.13 ERA in 13 starts.