Aaron Altherr called up to take Maikel Franco's place
Prospect doubles in his first at-bat of the season with the Phillies.
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ON TUESDAY, The Phillies placed rookie third baseman Maikel Franco on the 15-day DL with a fractured left wrist, and called up 24-year-old outfielder Aaron Altherr from the Triple A Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
The Agua Fria High School (Avondale, Ariz.) product made his first career start in rightfield on Wednesday after playing three innings and batting 0-for-2 in relief of Jeff Francoeur the night before; he entered yesterday's game batting 0-for-7 with three strikeouts in three career games as a Phillie.
"It's always good to be in the lineup, but whatever the team needs me to do is what I'm ready to provide for them," Altherr said before Wednesday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays. "If they need me to come off the bench and pinch-hit then I'll do that.
"I just hope I can get my first hit out of the way pretty soon."
He didn't have to wait long for his wish to come true.
Altherr roped the first hit of his major-league career into centerfield for a stand-up double that scored first baseman Darin Ruf, putting the Phils up, 3-0.
In the bottom of the fifth, he blasted his first career home run, a two-run shot off Blue Jays relief pitcher Bo Schultz into the left-field seats for a 7-2 lead.
It was quite the second impression for the 6-5, 215-pounder, who was drafted by the Phils in the ninth round of the 2009 MLB June amateur draft and made his major league debut last season in mid-June. He was batting .294 with eight home runs and 38 RBIs in 51 games with Lehigh Valley since being elevated from Double A Reading earlier this season.
Altherr and the IronPigs had just finished up the hour-and-a-half trip from Lehigh to Scranton on Tuesday when he was notified that he had been given his second shot in the big leagues.
"I was on the bus, I drove to Scranton and then as soon as I got there I got a driver to drive me right back to Lehigh and then got my stuff and went here to Philly," he said. "It was a pretty long day but, I mean, it's all worth it if you're getting called up to the big leagues, so it doesn't really matter."
Altherr plans to do his best.
"Hopefully, I can just produce up here and help the team win and just do the best I can and just try to be a good guy around here," he said.