Diamondbacks Trade Lefty Reliever for Phillies Outfield Prospect

Avery Owusu-Asiedu Joins the Diamondbacks

Owusu-Asiedu was born in Canada, and was taken in the ninth round of the 2023 draft out of Southern Illinois University. After struggling in his first two seasons, he showed tremendous growth in 2025, batting .258/.366/.385. That batting line was good for a 120 wRC+, or about 20% better than league average.

Standing at 6'4", 230 pounds, there is projectable, untapped power in the Owusu-Asiedu's bat. He hit seven homers, along with 16 doubles and four triples in 353 at bats across two levels in 2025. He also walked 13.6% of the time against a 24% strikeout rate. He was not ranked among the Phillies organization top 30 prospects on MLB pipeline however.

He will be assigned to the D-backs High-A affiliate Hillsboro Hops. He has some very impressive batted ball and advanced stat metrics which you can view Prospectsavant.com. The information there indicates some considerable upside.

Kyle Backhus to the Phillies

Backhus signed with Arizona as an un-drafted in 2021, and worked his way through the system to make his major league debut in 2025. The sidewinding lefty had initial success and got a lot of big outs for the team right away.

He later began to struggle with right-handed batters however, and his ERA began to rise, ultimately ending up at 4.62 alongside a 4.24 FIP in 25.1 innings pitched.

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This move opens up a 40-man roster spot for the Diamondbacks, one they will presumably use once Merrill Kelly passes his physical and his signing is made official.

The Diamondbacks still have many moves left to make this offseason, not the least of which is bolstering a bullpen that has been among the worst in the league the last two seasons. Losing a depth arm like Backhus doesn't help, but the team almost certainly has other moves in mind to fill the gaps.

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