The Phillies have agreed to a minor league contract with reliever Chris Devenski, tweets Matt Gelb of the Athletic. It was a short stay on the open market for the right-hander, who was just released by the Diamondbacks yesterday.
Devenski made ten appearances with Arizona after being selected onto the big league roster in late July. He worked 10 2/3 innings, but allowed nine runs on 14 hits (including a pair of longballs). The plenty of hard contact Devenski surrendered offset his 9:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and the Snakes designated him for assignment over the weekend. He passed unclaimed through waivers but quickly finds another landing spot and an opportunity to pitch his way back to the majors.
While Devenski has spent his last two seasons in the desert, he’s better known for his prior run in Houston. Between 2016-19, he was a multi-inning reliever for the Astros. During the first two of those campaigns, Devenski was among the most valuable bullpen arms in the game. He worked to a 2.38 ERA over 189 innings from 2016-17, striking out an above-average 28.2% of batters faced against a modest 6.4% walk rate. Devenski remained a workhorse later in his Houston tenure, but he had mounting difficulty keeping the ball in the park.
By 2020, he was also battling health issues. He pitched just four times in the shortened season and underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove a bone chip from his elbow that September. The following June, he underwent a more significant Tommy John procedure that kept him out through this season’s first half. Devenski’s struggles on the heels of a UCL replacement are alarming, but his average fastball velocity bounced back to the 94 MPH range of his peak after dipping to just above 91 MPH in 2021.
Because he signed prior to September 1, Devenski would be eligible for the Phils postseason roster should they qualify. That’s true even though he won’t immediately step onto the 40-man roster. Players within an organization but not on the 40-man at the start of September can be added to the playoff roster to replace a player on the injured list via petition to the commissioner’s office.
Be still, my heart! And eligible for the post-season, too! OMG!
Announce Phillies relegation to AAA.
The Phillies are so weird, They’re the only team in baseball who look like a World Series winner and a Little League team in the same week. It doesn’t matter who they are playing. They can beat anyone. They can fall apart against anyone. It would make sense if it was just bad defense, but the offense gets completely shut down at times.
I don’t follow the Phil’s closely so I can’t speak to their offensive woes, but last night a very good and very hot Zac Gallen shut them down. Gallen has been rollin’ for several weeks now.
Oh yea. Gallen is an ace so getting shut out by him is not the huge issue. The huge issue was the Phillies failing to generate a hit against the Diamondbacks bullpen in game 1.
Yep, that’s not cool. D-backs RP is definitely a weakness. Hope you guys are liking Thor and Marsh. Anxious to see them in the playoffs.
It’s nice having CF defense. It’s been years. Thor’s a solid 4th or 5th starter too. As for the playoffs, injuries and bad performances are piling up, so I’m getting a little nervous.
as we all are.