Phillies right-hander Tommy Hunter underwent surgery to repair a torn flexor tendon and will miss the remainder of the season, manager Gabe Kapler announced to reporters Tuesday (Twitter link via Scott Lauber of Philly.com). Hunter’s ulnar collateral ligament was examined but was cleared of any damage.
The operation will effectively close the book on Hunter’s two-year, $18MM deal with the Phillies. His results when healthy enough to take the mound were solid — a 3.50 ERA with a 56-to-15 K/BB ratio — but the organization surely hoped to receive more than 69 1/3 innings from Hunter. Unfortunately, Hunter missed about three and a half weeks due to a hamstring strain in 2018 and was limited to just 5 1/3 innings in 2019 by the forearm injury that will ultimately require surgical repair.
Hunter, who just recently turned 33, will have the final two-plus months of the 2019 campaign and the entire offseason to recover from the procedure, so he should be an option for clubs again in 2020. He may have to settle for a minor league pact coming off such an injury-ruined season, but his track record will be plenty appealing. In his past 350 big league appearances, Hunter has pitched to a 3.19 ERA (3.42 FIP) with 7.4 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9 and at least average ground-ball rates in all but one full season (2013).
looks like he’ll be hunting for a new team
No surprise here and it’s rather unfortunate. Aside from a rough start last year, Hunter was pretty good when healthy.
Watch him go the Charlie Morton route and be lights out for a contender next season.
well that’s great…
Can anyone explain how his 3.80 ERA in 64 innings last year was worth 1.5 bWAR?
war is just about useless when relievers are concerned.
ERA too
“Can anyone explain how his 3.80 ERA in 64 innings last year was worth 1.5 bWAR?”
It was attained while pitching a decent amount of innings at Citizen’s Bank Park.
Staggering number of injuries under the tutelage of Chris Young.
I’m sure a lifetime of bad pitching mechanics has nothing to do with it either.
For each of those pitchers? Really?
I was pretty happy with the 2019 Phillies bullpen on paper, but reality is a cruel mistress. Injuries destroyed this pen. I’m still curious to see if Robertson and Seranthony can come back and provide much needed help.
I would count on surgeries for both after the season.
He was one of the most fun players to root for as an Oriole several years ago. Hunter did not take himself or anyone else too seriously. Nice guy in person too.
I can attest to this. We took a trip out to STL and KC to watch the Phils. The first game in STL we sat right at the edge of the Phillies dugout.One kid had a sign that said “I’ll trade my mom for a Bryce Harper bat”. This kid came down to the dugout in between innings waving his sign . Tommy Hunter had a field day with this kid asking him what else he would trade.
Eventually it got down to a picture of his mom for a picture of Bryce Harper. The way Tommy was able to keep the ribbing PG rated was hilarious.
That’s really funny. Nice story WR.
Hunter is a huge man. So much so that his clubhouse nickname is, “Tommy Two Towels”. That’s about the most interesting thing I can say about Hunter’s stay in Philly; the cute dugout story above notwithstanding.
Klentak has had zero luck signing FA pitchers, both starters and relievers. They get hurt, released and a few flourish elsewhere. But losing Robertson and Seranthony were the two biggest blows this year. Robertson has a long history of success and Seranthony’s numbers in 2018 were terrific.
Still hoping MK addresses both needs at the trading deadline. We’re only 6 1/2 games behind the Braves, and they too have a few cracks in their armor (Injured starting pitchers and a shaky bullpen). If it takes someone like Adonis Medina to pry a Will Smith or Bumgarner from the Giants, I’d do it. Besides, there’s nothing preventing us from re-signing either one when each becomes a FA.