Upon completing separate trades with the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins, the Los Angeles Dodgers faced decisions in order to add Mookie Betts, Brusdar Graterol, David Price and Luke Raley to their 40-man roster.
Two spots were cleared with Kenta Maeda and Alex Verdugo going out in the trades, and two more were created when the Dodgers designated Kyle Garlick and Tyler White for assignment. That gave L.A. seven days to seven days to trade, release or outright Garlick and White off the roster.
A solution was reached with Garlick on Saturday, as he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Minor League pitcher Tyler Gilbert.
Before joining his new organization, Garlick visited now-former Dodgers teammates at Camelback Ranch for a final time, per Pedro Moura of The Athletic:
Kyle Garlick came to Dodgers camp today and said goodbye to his former teammates. He is going to Philadelphia now; the teams traded yesterday. He got a seed of an opportunity in Los Angeles. There wasn’t much room for more. Maybe he will find that in Philadelphia.
— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) February 16, 2020
The Dodgers selected Garlick out of Cal Poly Pomona in the 28th round of the 2015 MLB Draft. He as among the nine rookies who played for the team during the 2019 season, and one of eight to make his MLB debut.
The 27-year-old batted .250/.321/.521 with three home runs, four doubles, eight runs scored and six RBI over 30 games with the Dodgers. He also played in 81 games with Triple-A Oklahoma City, hitting .314/.382/.675 with 23 home runs, 25 doubles, 54 runs scored and 59 RBI.
Garlick’s unlikely journey to the Majors was one that resonated with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “Just kind of an organizational grinder that he just continued to perform,” he said last lseason.
“We saw him at Spring Training in Major League camp and I loved the at-bats, the way he played the game. You keep reading reports and talking to coaches and the front office, he created this opportunity himself. Now when you get an opportunity and you capitalize, all the credit goes to him.
“The guy plays the game because he loves it. I don’t think for Kyle, for Matt (Beaty), it’s not about self-promotion or the money. It’s about being a Major League Baseball player, and that really resonates in our clubhouse. That’s a good thing for all of our guys to see that. It’s refreshing.
“We have some guys in the clubhouse like that. Justin Turner was a guy like that, Austin Barnes was like that. Rich Hill, he had a crazy trek. Everyone has different paths but it’s stories like that, those are fun stories.”
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