The Phillies are in agreement with righty Jon Duplantier on a minor league contract, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (Twitter link). He’ll receive an invitation to big league Spring Training.
Duplantier, 28, will look to get back to the majors after a year in Triple-A. He spent the entire 2022 campaign with the Dodgers’ top affiliate in Oklahoma City. The former third-round pick started 14 of his 34 appearances, working 93 2/3 innings altogether. He posted a 4.80 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Duplantier struck out a solid 25.5% of his opponents but only induced grounders on a little more than 30% of balls in play. Perhaps most concerning, he walked 13.3% of batters faced, the continuation of control issues he’s battled throughout his career.
The Rice University product has pitched in the majors in parts of two campaigns. A highly-regarded prospect during his time in the Diamondbacks farm system, he pitched with Arizona in both 2019 and ’21. Duplantier started seven of 19 outings, working to a 6.70 ERA through 49 2/3 MLB frames. He managed a better 45.7% grounder rate in that time but had a below-average 19.7% strikeout percentage and an 11.2% walk rate.
Duplantier adds some swing depth to the upper levels of the Philadelphia organization. He can serve as injury insurance for the rotation or as a multi-inning reliever. Duplantier has exhausted his minor league option years, however. If Philadelphia adds him to the big league roster at any point, he’d have to stick in the majors or be made available to other clubs via trade or waivers.
Dombrowski stocking up on depth arms. Excellent strategy
Agreed 10Cent…this has been a consistent failing for the organization for quite a while now.
It is exciting to have both the high end arms in Pain and Abel and McGarry getting ready to knock on the door, while he digs up a few more useful AAAA types and potential upside plays to go along with them. Serviceable pitching depth can win a few extra games if things go well.
Pain and Abel, I think they were in the Old Testament.
I didn’t coin that – I guess that some Philly sportswriter did at some point last year as they were gaining momentum. I loved the reference – now I am hoping that they both develop well so that we can use the nickname for years to come.
I went out of my way to see both of them last year. Unfortunately saw one of Abel’s worst outings of the year, but you can see the raw stuff. Saw Painter in his last start before jumping levels and have basically never been as impressed by such a young pitcher (19 years old). Big frame…easy velocity…very focused…fastball and slider command were great…simple and repeatable delivery without max effort.
Uncle Mike – I think that they got about half of his first season before the suspension. A quick BR check would tell you for sure, but he had a three year deal for the 2021-2023 seasons.
Thanks! I guess the key words of his name gets your post deleted. LOL
On this site he is now ” He, Who shall not be named” ROTFLMAO
I like this. See what ge can do out of the PCL.
“Phillies, Jon Duplantier agree to have Italian food.”
I remember from being in a dynasty league where I had to follow prospects … this dude had elite K numbers in the minors.
Maybe he can put it all together and make an impact. Definitely not a bad signing.
The signing is equivalent to buying one of those scratch-off lottery tix. Price is cheap, but the reward could be great if you hit. However, the parking lots of 7-11s all across the country are littered with these losing tix. Thus, not expecting much, but hoping for the best.
He was a top prospect for the D-backs a few years back so it’s worth the lottery ticket if he can get it together.
This guy gets tattooed on the mound. Duplane! Duplane!