By Sam Bush
The Phillies have designated utilityman Luke Williams for assignment, making room on the 40-man roster for Nick Castellanos, whose five-year deal has been made official.
Williams was picked by the Phils in the third round of the 2015 draft, opened 2021 with Triple-A Lehigh Valley and earned his first big league call last June.
He had 108 plate appearances last year, hitting .245/.315/.316 with one home run and a pair of stolen bases. He made contact on 85% of his swings — around nine points above the league average — but he only managed five extra-base hits. It was a similar story in Lehigh Valley, where he hit .270/.329/.341 without a homer in 143 trips to the dish.
The Phils will have a week to trade Williams or place him on waivers. The 25-year-old still has all three minor league option years remaining, so he’d be a flexible multi-positional depth piece for any acquiring team.
