Cristian Pache made his debut in a Phillies uniform on April Fool’s day, 2023. In those first few early days it seemed like every time the young outfielder stepped into the batter’s box there were runners on base with two outs, and during each at bat Pache struck out.
Fans questioned the point of including Pache in the lineup. Sure, the Dominican Republic native brought a proficient glove to the outfield. But the taste of the previous season’s World Series appearance lingered on the palates of fans and they wanted another bite, yet the Phillies were unable to even tread water in those early April days, and to compound the frustration here was Pache unable to reach base let alone drive in a run.
Then on April 8th Pache recorded his first hit as a Phillie. On that day the Phillies chalked up their third win of the season with a come-from-behind rally in the bottom of the ninth.
Throughout the rest of April Pache continued to contribute, his batting stats rising at the same pace as the Phillies’ record improved. After several games of literally batting .000, he climbed to .125, then .222, and so on, until by the end of the month he was slashing .360/.600/.960, while at the same time the Phillies record rose from a soul-crushing 1-5 on April 5th to a hopeful 15-14 by April 30th.
For a moment it appeared as though the Phillies had done what the Braves could not – realize the full potential talent hidden within Cristian Pache.
When Cristian Pache signed his first deal with the Atlanta Braves in 2015 he was already considered an exciting prospect. He bounced around the Braves’ minor league system and lived up to expectations. As a defenseman he was solid. He had speed and stole bases. And he could hit. In 2019 he made the All-Star Futures Game and later that year joined Atlanta’s AAA Gwinnett Stripers.
During the truncated 2020 season Pache finally made his major league debut and recorded his first big league hit against none other than the Phillies. But his tenure in the majors with the Braves would not last long. After returning from a rehab assignment for a hamstring injury he struggled at the plate. In 2022 the Braves traded him to the Oakland A’s where he again failed to produce offensively, and by the spring of 2023 the A’s decided to part ways with him.
This is when the Phillies picked up Pache in a trade. To grossly oversimplify things, after working with hitting coach Kevin Long it appeared Pache’s offensive struggles were over.
Rarely are things that easy. After a month of constant improvement, on April 28th he found himself on second base after an RBI double. He stepped off the bag toward third, then took a larger lead, daring Astros pitcher Frambler Valdez to pick him off. Pache suddenly broke back to the bag and in doing so tore the meniscus in his right knee. As Alex Coffey wrote at the time for the Inquirer, “It was a freak, non-contact injury, and a tough break for a player who was starting to figure things out.”
He returned in mid-June but, echoing his return from the hamstring injury during his stint with Atlanta, he couldn’t reignite the hot bat from April. He finished June hitting .231.
But then July sparked what appeared to be that old summer Phillies magic. Pache could hit again. On July 7th he belted a ninth inning 2-run homer against the Miami Marlins to help the Phillies tie their franchise record for consecutive road wins at 13.
Only two games later another injury again removed him from the lineup, this time for surgery to remove a screw from a previous surgery on his throwing elbow.
When his name reappeared on the lineup card in early September ‘23, Pache had lost all adeptness with a bat. He recorded only three hits for the entire month, posting a bleak and disheartening slashline of .091/.231/.152.
Still hope existed Pache could regain his capability at the plate by spring of 2024. As the season started that hope quickly died. While his speed and defensive skills never wavered much (fielding percentage and defensive runs saved above average were similar from 2023 to 2024), his spot in the batting order was a black hole, an almost guaranteed out.
As the 2024 trade deadline loomed Pache was batting a hair above .200. While we can point to Kyle Schwarber’s walk rate and the number of homers hit as contributions to outweigh out his similar batting average, Pache simply presented a liability to the offense. Only the question of to whom he would be traded to remained.
Both he and Seranthony Dominguez were sent to the Baltimore Orioles in a trade that brought Austin Hays to Philadelphia. After three games Baltimore DFA’d Pache. The Miami Marlins quickly snatched him up but by the end of September designated him for assignment as his offensive struggles failed to abate.
Cristian Pache was good minor league player who flashed moments of greatness in the majors, but has yet to find consistency at the plate. We’ve seen this story play out over and over – a player dominates in the minors but is unable to translate that into long term success in the majors. Yet we should not forget Pache’s contributions helped the Phillies turn around an ugly start to the 2023 season.
We wish ye well, young Pache. Hopefully you’ll make your mark yet.
