Phillies sign Utley to contract extension

Chase Utley agreed to a two-year contract extension with the Phillies Thursday that will take the second baseman through the 2015 season.

The deal includes three vesting/club options, according to GM Ruben Amaro. The two-year contract is reportedly worth $27 million, but it could max out to five years and $75 million, according to CSNPhilly.com.

Utley entered Thursday’s game — a 12-1 win for the Phils over Chicago — with a .277 average, along with 16 doubles, five triples, 15 home runs and 43 RBIs. The 34-year-old has a .337 on-base percentage and .505 slugging percentage. Among National League second basemen, Utley ranks first in slugging percentage, second in home runs, third in extra-base hits and fourth in total bases (152) despite missing a month of games earlier this year with an oblique strain.

“Chase epitomizes everything we expect our Phillies to be,” Amaro said in a statement. “As we’ve said before, we see Chase as a true Phillie for life. This contract moves us toward that end. We couldn’t be more pleased.”

Utley is a five-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger winner. He ranks in the Phillies’ all-time Top 10 ranking in doubles, home runs, extra-base hits and slugging percentage. In 2009, he tied Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson and set an NL record for most home runs (5) in a World Series and became just the second player in major-league history to have two multi-home run games in one World Series. Utley was originally selected by the Phillies in the first round (15th overall) of the June 2000 First-Year Player Draft.