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Adonis Medina

Phillies Designate Vince Velasquez For Assignment, Reinstate Matt Joyce

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The Phillies made a number of roster moves today, most notably designating righty Vince Velasquez for assignment, per the team (Twitter links).Velasquez has been on the injured list with a blister issue. Regardless, it’s a disappointing result for Velasquez, who never quite lived up to expectations in Philly, despite six seasons on the roster. This season, Velasquez has a 5.95 ERA/5.58 FIP in 81 2/3 innings.

Time will tell if this is the end of the road for Velasquez and the Phils; the other 29 teams will have the opportunity to claim him off waivers, though that might be unlikely given his current injury status and the fact that he will be a free agent at the end of the season.

In terms of their other moves, Matt Joyce was reinstated from the 60-day injured list to claim one available roster spot. Joyce has just 62 plate appearances this season with much of his usage coming as a pinch-hitter.

Adonis Medina and Mickey Moniak were also recalled from Triple-A. Moniak has 32 plate appearances with the big league club this year. He will see some time as an extra outfielder. Medina will potentially take on some of Velasquez’s former repsonsibilities as a fifth starter. The Phillies may not go with a traditional fifth starter, but Medina could be used as a multi-inning reliever.

Heading out,Enyel De Los Santos and Ramon Rosso were optioned to Triple-A, while Travis Jankowski was placed on the 10-day injured list with a right foot contusion. Jankowski had been the primary alternate in the outfield, but that role will now be taken on by Joyce and Moniak.

Phillies Option Adonis Medina

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The Philadelphia Phillies optioned Adonis Medina after Sunday’s game, the team announced. Medina was called up on Sunday to make his major league debut. In the spot start,  the 23-year-old took the loss while yielding two earned runs on three hits in four innings against the Blue Jays. Medina also struck out four and walked three in the 84-pitch outing. The Phillies needed an extra arm after a doubleheader on Friday, which they swept.

Philadelphia now has seven games remaining. They trail the Marlins by 1 game for 2nd place and a guaranteed playoff spot, though they also have a half game lead for the top wild card position. They will finish the season with seven games on the road, four in Washington and a final weekend series at Tampa Bay.

The Phillies will probably need an additional starter to pitch one half of a doubleheader against the Nationals on Tuesday, which would be too soon for Medina to return. Ramón Rosso got the call as the 29th man in a similar situation last week. Jake Arrieta and Spencer Howard are both on the injured list, leaving Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Zach Eflin, and Vince Velasquez in the rotation.

Phillies Promote Adonis Medina

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TODAY: The Phillies have officially promoted Medina, with Mickey Moniak going back to the alternate training site in the corresponding move.

SEPTEMBER 19: The Phillies are set to promote prospect Adonis Medina to start tomorrow afternoon’s game against the Blue Jays, manager Joe Girardi told reporters (including Meghan Montemurro of the Athletic). It will be Medina’s major league debut.

The right-hander was once one of baseball’s top young pitchers, ranking as Baseball America’s #84 overall prospect in 2018. He participated in the Futures Game the same year. Medina’s stock has fallen a bit since then, thanks in part to his uninspiring performance last season in Double A.

Last year, Medina posted just a 4.94 ERA/4.53 FIP in 105.2 innings in the pitcher-friendly Eastern League. Along the way, his strikeout rate dropped to a mediocre 17.5% (6.98 K/9). That marked a far cry from the gaudy strikeout numbers (around 26%) he’d racked up between Low-A and High-A in the two years prior.

Despite his 2019 struggles, Medina’s still among the best young arms in the organization. BA placed him 11th among Phils’ farmhands midseason, noting that he continues to flash the three-pitch mix which once made him so well-regarded but hasn’t yet developed consistency with his secondary stuff. MLB Pipeline (6th), Keith Law of the Athletic (9th) and FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen (11th) all continue to slot Medina among the organization’s top prospects.

Medina was added to the Phillies’ 40-man roster after the 2018 season, so the club needn’t make a move in that regard. If he sticks in the majors for good, he’d be controllable through 2026.

Phillies Add Three To Player Pool

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The Phillies announced that they’ve added right-hander Adonis Medina, infielder/outfielder Austin Listi and infielder Bryson Stott to their 60-man player pool. All three will report to the club’s alternate training site.

Medina, 23, entered the 2019 season ranked among baseball’s best pitching prospects, but he struggled to a 4.94 ERA with 7.0 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting last year, causing his stock to drop a bit. Armed with a mid-90s sinker that has typically generated above-average ground-ball rates and a well-regarded changeup, he’ll give the Phillies a relatively advanced arm to lean on for depth while also continuing to get some critical developmental reps with the rest of the player pool. Medina is already on the 40-man roster.

Listi, 26, has played all four corner positions in the Phillies’ minor league system. First base has been his most frequent position, but he has at least 323 innings at each of left field, right field and third base as well. Listi split the 2019 season between Double-A and Triple-A, batting a combined .252/.344/.434 with 19 home run, 24 doubles and a pair of triples in 545 plate appearances. He walked at a 10.5 percent clip and punched out in 19.4 percent of his plate appearances. Given his ability to handle multiple positions and his experience up through the Triple-A level, Listi could emerge as an option at the MLB level in 2020.

Stott, meanwhile, was the team’s first-round pick in 2019 and seems like much more of a long shot to be considered for the big leagues in 2020. The Phillies took a conservative approach with the UNLV product last year, assigning him to their Rookie-level affiliate and then short-season Class-A club — where as a first-round college bat he was much more advanced than most of his competition. Stott did what one would expect of an advanced bat in that setting, as he logged a strong .295/.391/.494 slash in 193 plate appearances. Even though he seems unlikely to be called up this year, Stott will benefit from simulated game reps and work with the team’s staff in Lehigh Valley.

Phillies Move Jerad Eickhoff To Bullpen

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The Phillies have moved right-hander Jerad Eickhoff from the starting rotation to the bullpen, manager Gabe Kapler told reporters Tuesday (Twitter link via Matt Breen of Philly.com). The Phils have not yet determined who’ll start in his place, but Kapler ruled out top prospect Adonis Medina as an option, Breen notes.

Eickhoff, 28, made an impressive return to the Phillies’ rotation earlier this year after some prolonged injury troubles, pitching to a 1.50 ERA through his first five games of the season. Since that time, he’s been tagged for 27 runs in 27 1/3 innings while yielding a sky-high 16 home runs (five in his most recent outing). Injuries limited Eickhoff to just 5 1/3 innings in 2018 and a total of 133 1/3 innings from 2017-18, but he did give the Phillies 197 innings of 3.65 ERA ball back in 2016. If Eickhoff’s struggles continue in relief, he does have minor league options remaining.

Rotation alternatives in the big league bullpen include Ranger Suarez and Vince Velasquez, while Triple-A hurlers Cole Irvin, Enyel De Los Santos and Drew Anderson are all on the 40-man roster as well. The Phillies could also explore the idea of utilizing an opener or even look for another option outside the organization.

It’s been a rough year for Phillies starters, as Nick Pivetta has been inconsistent while neither Aaron Nola nor Jake Arrieta has pitched to expectations. Nola and Arrieta, in particular, have seen their struggles coincide with those of Eickhoff. The Phillies still have a 15-13 record over the past month despite their ineffective rotation, but the Braves have substantially closed the gap in what is now a tied division by playing at a 17-9 pace over that same stretch. Philadelphia is widely expected to be aggressive on the trade market this winter, and the rotation looks to be an increasingly logical target area for general manager Matt Klentak and his staff.

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