The Rays announced Thursday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Evan Phillips. Lefty Dietrich Enns was optioned to Triple-A Durham to open a spot on the active roster. Tampa Bay had an open 40-man spot, so an additional corresponding move was needed.
Phillips, 26, recently inked a minor league deal with the Rays and will give the club a fresh arm to keep the bullpen fresh. He’s shown considerable strikeout potential in past MLB stints with the Orioles but has also given up far too many walks to remain effective. From 2019-20, Phillips pitched 42 1/3 frames with the O’s and fanned 28.7 percent of his opponents but also walked about 14.4 percent of them. Between that and a sky-high .398 average on balls in play, he was knocked around for a 5.95 ERA in that time.
This will be Phillips’ first big league stint of the season. He’s split the year between the Triple-A clubs for Baltimore and Tampa Bay, working to a 4.76 ERA in 28 1/3 innings. He’s spent parts of four seasons in Triple-A, compiling a 3.67 ERA with a 27.6 percent strikeout rate and a 10.7 percent walk rate. He averages just shy of 95 mph with his heater and also features a mid-80s slider and lesser used changeup (also clocked in the mid-80s).
…and he gets Mariano Rivera award at the end of the year…
good for him for making it back. sad that O’s got fleeced in their 2018 trades but wishing him success
Rays selecting a pitcher who was an Oriole cast off?
Yup might as well give him a spot in Cooperstown
Nice to see the trade cred that the Rays have been built up over the years with bullpen castoffs turned lockdown. As far as shortstops? Not so much. Can we give you back the pen arms for Adames?
Franco is going to be fine.
Maybe you missed it, but Willy is blind at the Trop. Also, have you heard of Wander Franco and Taylor Walls?? Did you see Ras pitch yesterday??? Glad you’re not the GM!
GO RAYS!!!
Strange to hear adames had issues seeing the ball at the trop, I’m curious how much it helps the Tbay pitchers and how many other hitters are affected by it.