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Didi Gregorius is back at the Philadelphia Phillies after the free agent shortstop struck a two-year, $ 28 million deal with the team, a source confirmed to ESPN on Saturday.
Gregorius, who turns 31 on Feb.18, has proven to be a huge boon in 2020 for the Phillies, who signed the free agent for a one-year, $ 14 million contract last offseason. He rebounded from an injury-scarred 2019 season with the New York Yankees hitting .284 with 10 home runs, 40 RBIs and 34 runs scored – and an .827 OPS – for the Phillies during the pandemic-cut season.
Gregorius missed a lot of time for the Yankees in 2019 as he recovered from Tommy John’s surgery, which he had to repair an elbow ligament that was torn during the 2018 AL Division Series against Boston. He ended up hitting .238 with 16 homers and 61 RBIs in 2019.
Over the past five seasons, Gregorius is tied for fourth with Xander Bogaerts among all major league shortstops in the circuits (98), behind only Trevor Story (134), Francisco Lindor (126) and Javier Baez ( 108). He is also fifth in RBIs (344), ninth in slugging percentage (.469, with a 150-game minimum) and ninth in extra-base hits (215) in the same period.
Gregorius has provided Gold Glove-caliber defense throughout his career, and his career 0.978 percentage is the fifth-best among players with at least 800 games played in this position since 2012.
Overall, Gregorius has a career batting average of .265 with 120 homers, 457 RBIs and a .748 OPS in nine seasons with the Reds, Diamondbacks, Yankees and Phillies.
Gregorius’ deal with the Phillies was first reported by The Athletic.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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