The Orioles announced Wednesday that right-hander Evan Phillips has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Norfolk. Baltimore’s 40-man roster is down to 36 players.
Phillips, 26, was acquired in the 2018 trade that sent Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day to the Braves. He’s been up and down with the O’s since that trade, pitching to a 7.36 ERA with an impressive 65 strikeouts (12.3 K/9) but an alarming 36 walks (6.8 BB/9) through 47 2/3 frames as a member of the Baltimore ’pen.
Control issues have been a problem even in the upper minors, although Phillips does also own a 3.41 ERA and 10.8 K/9 in 121 Triple-A innings. Phillips sits a bit north of 94 mph with his heater but doesn’t possess the type of high-end spin rate or swinging-strike rates on the pitch one would expect from a pitcher with his strikeout rates.
why not just release him? guy’s horrid.
Because he’s 26 and he doesn’t take a 40 man spot. I agree that he sucks and will likely never amount to anything more than a mop up man. But in case you haven’t seen what the back half of a AAA roster looks like—it’s not any better than Evan Phillips.
I have to disagree that he “sucks” and is “horrid.” His stuff has looked very good at times (not consistently) and I think he’ll get better with some more work under the new regime.
He has horrendous command and he’s been apart of the Elias ran org for 2 seasons. He was a middle relief prospect. They often don’t pan out. Nobody took a shot on waivers for a reason here.
While I largely appreciate your comments (and that you’re a loyal O’s fan) I question whether you watch the O’s that much. You seem to weigh in heavily, often negatively, on O’s players (kind of an easy thing for most to do), but this often belies what I know I’ve seen from watching them carefully.
Sure, if you’re going on stats alone Phillips looks really bad. I don’t think many who have watched him these last two months would say that, at all.
Going into his final outing , Phillips had a 3.14 ERA. 3 batters later it was over 5, and he left with elbow soreness . So you are right, Phillips has shown flashes. Problem with judging a reliever solely on ERA, is one bad inning can ruin your numbers. Still hope for Phillips, but this spring is probably his last opportunity, at least with the Orioles
Phillips had a good run going. But we’re talking about 10-11 innings in non high leverage spots. He can miss some bats but the blowup is going to come. . I watch a decent bit of O’s baseball. I’m not an eternal optimist though.
Kremer impressed me. Means looked fantastic to end the year. Tate really improved. Tanner Scott was extremely impressive. Harvey was a disappointment. TBD on Akin.
Hard to draw conclusions from really tiny samples though. Goes for really all those guys unfortunately. A 9-10 game rip where Phillips looks decent in lower leverage spots isn’t convincing for me.
One aspect of having 16 teams in the playoffs is guys can sneak through waivers easier. Playoff teams aren’t going to claim Phillips, so only have to go through 13 other teams to have him clear.
They should trade him for Phillip Evans
Phillips has major control issues, but the one thing he doesn’t have is confidence. You can see it on his face every time he takes the mound. The look of, “I hope I don’t screw this up” kind of look. If you don’t have confidence in yourself in professional sports, let alone as an MLB pitcher, it’s not going to work. Maybe see a sports psychologist?