Phillies Acquire Catching Depth

Raywilly
Just yesterday, Ronny Cedeno got the start at shortstop for the Pillies in the first game of the doubleheader against Atlanta. Today, after being out-righted back to Lehigh Valley, Cedeno has been sent packing in a deal to the Arizona Diamondbacks. In seven games with the major league club, Cedeno had not a single hit in nine plate appearances. With the IronPigs, however, the ten year veteran was hitting .286 with a home run and twenty RBIs. 

From the Diamondbacks, the Phillies acquired some more catching depth. According to Greg Joyce, a writer for The Express-Times, and a handful of other sources, Raywilly Gomez will head to Reading in the deal. Gomez has never made a major league appearance, and has been with the Diamondbacks organization for his entire career, spanning nearly seven seasons. Gomez had slowly been working his way up the D-Backs' minor league system, having moved from their rookie league up to Double A Mobile BayBears for parts of the past two seasons. Raywilly had been batting .273 with the BayBears, while posting an OBP of .355 and collecting 22 RBIs on three home runs. 

As a catcher, Gomez seems to be showing signs of potential. In his 325 career games behind the plate, he has a fielding percentage of .991, while catching 25% of the runners attempting to steal against him. While catching is his primary position, Raywilly has spent time at third (113 games), second (13), and first base (2), with a few starts as a designated hitter (9). The acquisition comes at a time when catchers in the Phillies system are getting hurt left and right. Carlos Ruiz just hit the seven-day disabled list, Cameron Rupp has been on the DL with Lehigh Valley, and Tommy Joseph has a long history of concussion issues. Raywilly Lopez may play a bigger role with the organization than it seems.

 

Andrew Gillen, Managing Editor of Philliedelphia.com

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