The Phillies announced a number of non-roster invitations to big league camp this morning. While most of that group was either already in the system or had previously been reported to have an agreement with Philadelphia, a trio of new names with MLB experience were among the batch: righties Jeremy Walker and Mark Appel, and left-hander Ben Bowden.
Walker, 27, has six big league appearances to his name. Those came with the Braves back in 2019, when he worked 9 1/3 innings of two-run ball out of Brian Snitker’s bullpen. Walker had posted a 3.97 ERA with quality peripherals that season for Triple-A Gwinnett and looked to be a potential middle relief option for Atlanta. Unfortunately, he missed the entire 2020 season with a shoulder impingement and was released the following offseason.
The former 5th-round pick signed a minor league deal with the Giants shortly thereafter. He missed the entire ’21 season as well but returned to affiliated action last year. Walker made 28 appearances for San Francisco’s top affiliate, posting a 6.88 ERA over 35 1/3 innings in an extremely hitter-friendly environment. He had roughly average strikeout and walk marks and still attracted the interest of the Rays, who sent infielder Ford Proctor to San Francisco for Walker at the trade deadline. He closed out the year with 21 2/3 frames of 5.91 ERA ball for Tampa Bay’s top affiliate and didn’t get an MLB look before hitting minor league free agency.
Bowden also spent time in Triple-A with San Francisco and Tampa Bay last season. The 28-year-old began the season with the Rockies but landed in Tampa via waiver claim. The Rays successfully ran him through waivers and kept him in the minors before dealing him to San Francisco in late July. Between the three clubs, the Vanderbilt product posted a 5.46 ERA over 57 2/3 frames of relief. He punched out an excellent 29.9% of opposing hitters but had a similarly lofty 13.8% walk percentage.
A former second-round pick and Futures Game participant, Bowden has long tantalized with swing-and-miss stuff but struggled with shaky control in the minors. He’d spent his entire career in the Colorado organization prior to last year, reaching the majors in 2021. Bowden provided the Rox 35 2/3 innings of 6.56 ERA ball as a rookie, fanning 23.7% of opponents against an 11.9% walk rate. That’s his only MLB experience to date.
Appel is a more familiar name to Phillies fans. The former first overall pick looked as if he’d never reach the majors when he stepped away from the game after the 2017 season. He returned to the Philadelphia organization in 2021 and got another crack last year despite some initial rust. That paid off when Appel posted strong numbers at Triple-A Lehigh Valley. In June, he secured his long-awaited big league call — making for one of the league’s better stories in 2022.
The 31-year-old allowed only two runs through his first 10 1/3 innings. He averaged 95 MPH on his sinker and racked up grounders at a massive 56.3% clip to put himself in the middle innings mix. That preceded an unfortunate battle with elbow inflammation that ended his season. At year’s end, Philadelphia ran Appel through waivers and sent him to free agency. He returns to the organization a few months later and will try to pitch his way back onto the 40-man roster.
Great to get Appel back
They had to get him for sentimental reasons. He could be like Luke Hochevar or Wade Davis.
Yeah – Appel is a great story, and he actually looked pretty good for a bit last season. Wild card option for solid relief arm once again if healthy, which would be a tremendous story.
I have noticed the relative calm and sanity of the Phillies fan posters on this site as compared to a few other intensely active and somewhat crazy and trollish fans of some other teams on here. This must be due to the overall approval in current terms of DD and the WS hangover, as we are not known for self-restraint over the years in general.
That second part was 100% unnecessary.
Because it is sort of true….or you prefer trolling….
Nope. I have 1 troll with 2 accounts. Regardless, that has nothing to do with these feel-good signings. I love the deal. That is 100% not trolling
My fanbase comment was not directed at anyone in particular, but more at the relative calm with the Philly posters right now. Clearly the Klentak Era is over, and Philly fans are simply swimming with relative optimism at the moment. Which, of course, can change on a dime. Just an observation, however.
@carver, Living in Chicago, listen to a lot of 97.5 the fanatic when I can. Totally agree, there is a ton of positivity in Philly sports these days…
Phillies/Union make it to the finals…Flyers are winning as much as they are losing after expected to be amongst the worst in the league….Sixers having shed “that guy” and Harden’s mini rebound are looking legit…And of course the Eagles having an amazing year….TBD
Posted about the trust the Phils fanbase have in the current regime awhile ago and what they’ve done this off season. Also, the national respect the team got during the playoff run is a weird byproduct……So yeah things are going well all over the sports landscape…
Am GenX and haven’t seen this in a long time….
Moving from the Gillick/Amaro FO to the MacPhail/Klentak FO was a brutally tough pill to swallow. The DD/Fuld FO has restored that competence and confidence.
I love the Phillies. They have arguably the best shortstop in baseball (a 25/45 threat year in year out) with a great OPS and batting average. I love the Kimbrel move, along with their offensive signings last season. They have two of the top 10 or 15 starters in the game as well. They also got Soto and Walker. It’s a fun team to root for. I’d ignore the hate fans direct everytime a team signs a top free agent. It’s just people spreading their misery.
I give you credit for determination and patience, CPD – I gave up on sports talk years ago. Too much attention-whoring; too many worthless “hot takes” and cognitive dissonance to sift through for the occasional insight. I stick with a core group of writers that fit the profile of actual journalists, and watch the games when I can. No bloggers either.
That “trust” notion is what is so striking to me, as I have rarely seen Philly fans trust anyone for longer than a minute. As a fanbase, we tend to be closer to what we are seeing now with the Red Sox fanbase (activity, huge passion and much disappointment) or some of the other markets that dissect every move (or non-move) with lots of anger, frustration and pain. THAT is what we are used to in Philly most of the time.
I have some real faith in DD and Co. for sure, and am hugely impressed. Lots of faith in the Iggles as well; even Howie is now an overall real plus and the team should be good for quite a while. Sixers – not much faith in ownership at all, and not a lot with the front office. They might have put together a real run this year, but overall their outlook is not great long term. Flyers….gave up years ago. Wake me if they get to the Finals.
With all of the bad over the years, it is quite refreshing to have almost a glut of good news in Philly sports.
@cpdpoet,
I’m a baby boomer that remembers purchasing general admission tickets (kids <12) in the 700 level of the Vet for 50¢. That’s my ‘when I was your age, everything cost a nickel’ story for the day.
I loved Gillick but he was not brought on board to fix the Phillies Way culture – he did the job and moved on without reframing the organizational culture. Then they went to Amaro, who is much smarter than most think and was solid under difficult circumstances, but was still too entwined with the old Phillies dynamic. Klentak was a disaster from day one and Middleton’s biggest mistake, while MacPhail had I think kind of taken the position to serve out his remaining years in genteel, go with the flow mode as he should have known better than to give the Saberdude so much rope and authority with so little baseball sense.
DD is moving them into becoming one of the better organizations in the game (finally), not only breaking down a lot of the old culture and approach, but also clearing out the SaberFail Era mistakes as well. About time…
@bart my friends and I were a staple at 700 level eagles games and 600 level phillies games. Even had stars home tix for the first usfl year.
And I WAS one of those idiots drinking at 6am to watch them blow the vet up! Good times but don’t miss the Vet, just the memory of it..
happy someone is starting to figure out this troll
You? Gather the courage to finally post on your old account handle, AstrosTroll4Life.
ASTROs are scum
Your “second jobs” comment brought back an old memory…I went shopping for a used car one day in the seventies and was shocked to have my salesman turn out to be Johnny Callison!
Awaiting someone to have a TrollishCrazyFan nick 😛
Good depth for PHI. DD has doubled down on that
I was actually hoping Milwaukee would pick up Appel. He looks pretty decent when he has pitched last year for Philly. Good for him hope he is able to get back up and make a decent career for himself.
I really liked Appel, I’m glad he’s back for spring training and the 2023 season ( hopefully)
Great depth signings. Relief Pitchers tend to be up and down and prone to injury so you never know how deep you might have to go or if one suddenly blossoms out of nowhere.
Mark Appel shows…
A) the value of perseverence.
B) the difficulty of MLB scouting. A top ten pick in two different drafts.
Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter are set to become the setup man and closer in the future then.
Hot take right here!