MLB Players: Top 10 old faces in new places for 2020
How acquired: Padres traded Hunter Renfroe, Xavier Edwards, and player to be named later to Rays for Pham and Jake Cronenworth on Dec. 6
Tommy Pham was a late bloomer in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 16th round of the 2006 MLB June Amateur Draft and spending eight years in the minors before debuting in 2014.
Last season with the Tampa Bay Rays, Pham hit .273/.369/.450 in 145 games, with 33 doubles, 21 homers, 77 runs and 68 RBI over 654 plate appearances, while also swiping 25 bases (fifth in the American League) in 29 attempts (the second-base success rate in the AL at 86.21 percent). Pham was also seventh in the AL with 81 walks.
He helped the Rays to a win over the Oakland Athletics in the AL Wild Card Game, going 2-for-4 with a solo homer, and hit .333/.364/.476 with a home run and two RBI as Tampa Bay fell in five games to the Houston Astros in the ALCS.
The Padres gave up right fielder Hunter Renfroe, who his .216/.289/.489 with 33 home runs last season, along with 20-year-old minor-league infielder Xavier Edwards to get Pham and 26-year-old prospect Jake Cronenworth, who hit .334/.439/.520 in 94 games at Triple-A Durham while returning to the mound for six starts after not pitching since he was a collegian at Michigan.
Pham signed a one year, $7.9 million contract in January to avoid arbitration, but is not free-agent eligible until after the 2021 season.
Pham, who will turn 32 on March 8, projects to a .271/.367/.462 slash line according to FanGraphs’ Depth Charts projection, with 23 homers, 89 runs, and 71 RBI.