Returning Thome Will No Longer Play First Base

When the Phillies agreed to sign veteran Jim Thome before spring training, the plan was for the future Hall of Famer to dust off his old mitt and spend some time playing first base. Manager Charlie Manuel thought Thome might be able to handle 20 games at first base for the 2012 season.



But in activating the slugger from the disabled list (lower back strain) in time for Wednesday night’s game against the Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park, a few games at first base for Thome appears to be off the table. Both Thome and Manuel believe that any more action at first base is probably a bad idea.

“That was probably the most difficult thing when I went back — the bending over,” Thome said. “The taking ground balls. That was obviously the biggest challenge that I had and then it got to a point where we wanted to get some at-bats. The at-bats was the thing we worked on there and accomplished that. As I said, it’s good to be back. If I can help in any way, that’s what I’m going to do, and do to the best I can.”

Thome’s ability to contribute, though, will be limited to pinch hitting and some interleague DHing. That means in order to stay sharp, Thome will have to be creative. Manuel says Thome can work out with extra batting practice from a pitcher who can throw the ball “firm,” and the Phillies have a state-of-the-art pitching machine that can fire pitches in any manner that a hitter could imagine.

Plus, Manuel pointed out, the Phillies have had players confined to just pinch hitting in the past. Last year the Phillies had Ross Gload, who was limited because of a torn labrum in his hip and before that Matt Stairs was used exclusively for pinch hitting.

“We carried Gload and we carried Stairs and [Thome] is more apt to hit [a home run] than those guys,” Manuel said.

Still, Manuel admitted that Thome’s limitations “hurt some,” but not enough that he will have difficulty finding at-bats for the slugger.

In the meantime, Thome said he found a new respect for players who spend their careers primarily as pinch hitters.

“Let’s face it, pinch hitting, you really tip your hat to guys who can pinch hit full-time,” Thome said. “I don’t want to sit here and say yes because, bottom line, pinch hitting is a job you have to put a lot of time in. I think the key is to continue to work and do everything you can before BP, during the game, to put yourself in a good position during the game.”

To clear space for Thome on the 25-man roster, utility infielder Pete Orr was optioned to Triple A Lehigh Valley. Orr was batting .286 in 23 games and had five extra-base hits in 42 at-bats. Orr had played just 10 games in the field, all at second base.