Phillies rookie right-hander Zach Eflin had season-ending surgery Friday to repair his right patella tendon, Ryan Lawrence of PhillyVoice.com writes. The Phillies have also moved Eflin to the 60-day DL. He will likely require a similar surgery on his left knee in about six weeks, GM Matt Klentak said. The Phillies are hopeful he’ll be ready for Spring Training.
Eflin’s knee issues landed him on the DL earlier this month, but his knee troubles go back further — much further, according to Klentak.
“This is an issue he’s been fighting since he was a kid. I think he told me since he was 11 years old, he first started battling knee problems. The hope here is that it’s going to alleviate the problem,” Klentak says, via Lawrence. “And in just talking candidly with Zach last night, while not excited to undergo the knife today, he was pretty excited about the possibility of coming to Spring Training next year pain-free for the first time in his life.”
Eflin came up through the Padres system, then headed to the Phillies in December 2014 via two quick trades — first to the Dodgers in the Matt Kemp / Yasmani Grandal deal, then to Philadelphia in the Jimmy Rollins swap. The 22-year-old emerged as a big-league rotation candidate this year with a strong showing at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, where he posted a 2.90 ERA, 7.2 K/9 and 1.4 BB/9 in 68 1/3 innings. He struggled after being promoted, with a 5.54 ERA, 4.4 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 63 1/3 innings with the Phillies.
Eflin isn’t the only young starter the Phillies have lost to injury recently. Earlier this week, they shut down Aaron Nola with a UCL sprain and flexor strain. They’re currently going with a rotation of Jeremy Hellickson, Jerad Eickhoff, Vincent Velasquez, Jake Thompson and Adam Morgan.
I know the underlying numbers don;t look present, but he got shelled in 2-3 starts. The other starts he made really showed his potential. Hes a guy I really like long term. Hope he gets better
You took the words right out of my mouth- Phillies could have a dominant rotation by next season and him as a number 5 is special.
I’m thinking
Vinny, Nola, Thompson, Eickhoff and Eflin
Like straight up- that rotation has potential to be top 5– especially with Eickhoff hitting 94 this season.
But back to the topic at hand here, I can easily see Eflin being a consistent 3.80 ERA starter once he gets his legs back under him and finds his footing (yes, that pun was intended) at the major league level.
Agree. He’s been a joy to watch most nights. I was real sad to see his season end. Eflin and Eickhoff look like the least volatile of the guys they’ve run through this season. Velazquez has front of the rotation stuff in his toolbox but lacks a second strikeout pitch which has left him up and down all season.
With Nola, I’m just going to assume the injury had something to do with it
Velazquez just needs to learn how to limit his pitch count. He keeps throwing 100 through like 6 innings and if that continues, he;ll be under the knife soon. Once he can bring that down, he’s set
He wont be I can guarantee that, starter long term.
Regardless of his xfip numbers hes got roughly 4.4 k/9 and his fastball averages out to be 92.7. Rarely do guys with sub 5 k/9 and a fb velociyy under 94 last long term as a starter.
He could be a good #4-#5 but probably nothing more and strong chance he transitions to the pen.