10:38AM: The Phillies have announced the trade, with minor league catcher Karl Ellison heading to the Blue Jays in exchange for Nittoli. Ellison was an undrafted player who played in independent leagues in 2019 and 2021 before signing with the Phils organization this year for his first season of affiliated baseball. The 27-year-old Ellison has hit .123/.235/.192 over 150 combined plate appearances at the high-A and Triple-A levels this season.
10:13AM: The Phillies have acquired right-hander Vinny Nittoli from the Blue Jays, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link). Nittoli hasn’t been on a big league roster or injured list all season, and is thus eligible to be dealt after the August 2 trade deadline. Adding Nittoli now makes him eligible for possible inclusion on Philadelphia’s postseason roster, and Passan writes that the Phils will promote the righty to the majors tomorrow when rosters expand.
Reports surfaced a few days ago that Nittoli was planning to exercise an opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Jays, though today was his opt-out date, and Toronto dealt Nittoli before he could exercise the clause. The 31-year-old Nittoli was only in the Jays organization for a little over a month, as he inked a minor league deal with Toronto after opting out of another minors contract with the Yankees.
While the trade means that Nittoli won’t get to choose his next destination as a free agent, he’ll still achieve his end goal of making it back to a Major League roster. He’ll also return to Pennsylvania, after playing his high school ball in Gibsonia before heading to Xavier University and being a 25th-round pick for the Mariners in the 2014 draft.
Though Nittoli’s career first took him through the Blue Jays and Diamondbacks farm system, and a stint in independent baseball, his MLB debut took place back in a Mariners uniform, as he tossed one inning for Seattle last season. The M’s released him in August 2021, leading to Nittoli bouncing around to the Twins, Yankees, and back to the Jays in search of another opportunity in the Show.
Nittoli has had a good season at Triple-A, with a 3.30 ERA, 7.61% walk rate, and 32.06% strikeout rate over 46 1/3 combined innings with the Blue Jays and Yankees’ top affiliates. A lack of consistent Triple-A success might have been what prevented Nittoli from getting a longer look in the majors in the past, but he’ll now get at least some kind of stint with a Phillies team in the midst of a playoff race.
Seranthony Dominguez is still going to miss at least another week or two on the injured list, thus putting the Phillies on a search for bullpen help. Chris Devenski was signed to a minor league deal yesterday, and it is possible that the Phils might still acquire someone else besides just Nittoli before the day is over. Also, Zach Eflin threw a bullpen session yesterday as he tries to work his way back from a knee injury that has sidelined him for over two months, and if Eflin is able to return, he would pitch as a reliever rather than as a starter.
He can say he’s Nittoli a Blue Jay now
Must be a story to this 31 year old guy’s career. Only one major league game (one inning) on his resume.
He was a pretty old draftee who hasn’t been around *that* long, but still moreso a classic case of a dude who grinded in the minors and finally got a shot. I’m an M’s fan so I remember when he got promoted. He filled in for a few days during the time we weren’t exactly fielding a competitive team. I was happy to see him get in a game.
Vinny Nitolli just sounds like a Phillie.
Happy for him, and I hope he does well.
The guy we acquired from Philly looks like he might have been the literal lowest possible guy on their depth chart throughout their organization at any position lmao.
The ultimate lottery ticket. You were about to lose Nittoli for nothing, so…
27 year old undrafted rookies sporting sub-.500 ops’s in affiliated ball are the new market inefficiencies.
I mean he was the backup catcher at Vandy around 7 years ago, so he has that going for him. But I mean nittoli is a 31 year old with 1 game of mlb experience and is basically a filler arm.
He has a 0% chance at ever making the majors… but as an unusually experienced catcher at the low levels of the minors, he might help in the development of a pitcher who does make the majors partially because of him.
Or not. But just saying he could theoretically be an indirect contributor.
WTF
Jays must be preparing some depth for when they trade Jansen
My guess is that its for Moreno’s spot (call up)
Doesn’t look like they are calling up Moreno, with Zimmer in line to take the extra roster spot that opens up tomorrow.
Ellison is a camp body type of player that you bring in for guys to throw to. He was Philly’s multi-level C3 solution. Hardly a viable player at the MLB level.
The Phillies annual pooping of the bed has begun.
Perhaps they should put a minor league team in Connecticut. Mianus would be perfect.
Arizona has been a nightmare for the Phillies for years.
I was hoping this year’s team would be able to overcome the struggles against bad teams. Giving up a 7 run lead and then one of your top pitchers getting shelled the next night is inexcusable for a team with playoff aspirations. To top it off Bailey Falter is assigned to stop the bleeding tonight and the bullpen is on thin ice.
Great writing! Makes you want to root for the guy.
The Phillies seem to be gripping….not another September implosion.
Wow when they suck they do it epically
Another game on AppleTV another total embarrassment