Holy cow, this is happening! … Darick Hall's long journey leads to Philly

After hitting his 20th home run of the season in Lehigh Valley's 5-4 loss in Syracuse on Tuesday night, Darick Hall was unwinding, playing a little Xbox, back in his hotel room when an urgent group text went out to the team.

Everyone meet in the lobby, manager Anthony Contreras texted.

It was almost 12:30 a.m.

Hall wondered if there was a security issue as he headed to the lobby. There'd been one the last time the team visited this hotel in Syracuse.

Sure enough, Contreras told the team, someone had broken into a room, grabbed a bag and was last seen heading toward Philadelphia of all places.

"Darick Hall," Contreras continued, "you're going with him."

The whole team erupted into a round of applause.

Hall, a month shy of his 27th birthday and six years after being selected in the 14th round of the 2016 draft, thought to himself, Holy cow, this is happening.

Wednesday night, Hall was in Philadelphia, wearing No. 25, and batting cleanup as the Phillies' designated hitter for his major-league debut against the Atlanta Braves.

"It makes everything you've done really worth it," the personable Arizonan said in front of his locker in the Phillies' clubhouse. "You've gotten to the point where you dreamed of being, where you've worked to be, where you've dedicated years of your life to be.

"I just want to do my job, perform to the best of my ability and help the team. That's all I can ask for."

Hall is a lefty-swinging power hitter, 6-4, 248 pounds. In six minor-league seasons, he has 118 homers. In 72 games this season, he was hitting .269 with 18 doubles, 67 RBIs and an .894 OPS. His 20 homers were tied for the most in Triple A.

"The biggest thing is I've found more consistency this season," he said. 

After losing Bryce Harper -- he had surgery on his broken left thumb Wednesday -- the Phillies needed offense, particularly from the left side.

"He's got 20 home runs," manager Rob Thomson said. "He's earned it. But, yeah, to have another left-handed bat helps because we have a stretch of right-handed pitching coming up."

Hall feasted on right-handed pitching -- .312 batting average, 17 homers, 1.046 OPS -- at Lehigh Valley. He hit just .188 with a .601 OPS against lefties. He'll get time as the DH against righties and possibly give Rhys Hoskins a blow at first base. Like any other player arriving for the first time from the majors, he'll stay (and play) as long as he produces.

"We think he can add some offense," Thomson said.

After getting the good news and returning to his hotel room early Wednesday morning, Hall phoned his wife and family back home in Arizona. He then received a text from hitting coach Kevin Long, telling him he would be batting cleanup and serving as the DH on Wednesday night. 

"He's a middle-of-the-order bat," Thomson said of the decision to use Hall at cleanup in his big-league debut. "I think he's got the mindset to do it. He's very grounded."

But he's still human. Going to sleep on the eve of his big-league debut was a little difficult.

"I had a little trouble sleeping," Hall admitted. "I knew I couldn't run on an hour of sleep so I finally shut it down about 1:30. But it was hard. I was very excited."

To make room for Hall on the 40-man roster, the Phils placed pitcher James McArthur on the 60-day disabled list with an elbow injury. To make room on the 26-man roster, the Phils placed infielder Johan Camargo on the 10-day injured list with a knee strain.