Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Tyler Phillips

Phillies Designate Tyler Phillips For Assignment

By | at

The Phillies announced they’ve designated minor league righty Tyler Phillips for assignment. The move clears space on the 40-man roster for utilityman Luke Williams, who has been activated from the COVID-19 injured list. Outfielder Mickey Moniak was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley to open active roster space for Williams.

Phillips joined the Philadelphia organization in July, when they added him via waiver claim from the Rangers. He’d spent his entire career up to that point with Texas, who drafted him in 2015. Phillips posted quality numbers throughout much of his low minors tenure, but he struggled a bit upon reaching Double-A two years ago and was knocked around in his first four Triple-A appearances this season.

The Phillies assigned Phillips to Double-A Reading after adding him, but he was tagged for nine runs (eight earned) in 11 1/3 frames of work in that hitter-friendly setting. 2021 has been a struggle for Phillips no matter where he’s pitched, as he’s managed just a 6.13 ERA over 39 2/3 total minor league frames. That has come with subpar strikeout and walk rates, as the 23-year-old has punched out 22.7% of batters faced while issuing walks at an elevated 12.7% clip.

Obviously, things haven’t gone as planned for Phillips this season. But he’s not far removed from being seen as a potential back-end starter by public prospect evaluators. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked him 29th in the Rangers’ system this May, projecting Phillips to overcome fringy raw stuff because of potential plus-plus command.

Indeed, Phillips had doled out free passes to only 4.6% of opponents in his career entering this season, making his sudden strike-throwing woes quite perplexing. It’s certainly not of the question he could again find that kind of feel for locating and reemerge as a decent prospect. The Phillies will place him on outright or release waivers in the coming days.

Phillies Claim Tyler Phillips, Place Adam Haseley On COVID List

By | at

The Phillies have claimed right-hander Tyler Phillips off waivers from the Rangers.  Phillips was designated for assignment by Texas earlier this week.  In another move announced by the Phils, outfielder Adam Haseley was placed on Philadelphia’s COVID-related injury list.

A 16th-round pick for the Rangers back in 2015, Phillips is still only 23, but he hasn’t found much success pitching at either the Double-A or Triple-A levels.  Phillips has a 4.72 ERA over 108 2/3 frames at Double-A Frisco, comprised of two separate stints in Frisco sandwiched around the canceled 2020 minor league season.  Making the jump to Triple-A this season for the first time, Phillips has fared even worse, with a 9.90 ERA and more walks (12) than strikeouts (11) in his first 10 innings of work.

That small sample size was enough to make Phillips expendable in the Rangers’ eyes, though the Phillies will now see if a change of scenery can get him on track.  Phillips did show some potential as a starter in the lower minors, delivering some good groundball numbers and (his control problems this season notwithstanding) limiting walks.

Rangers Reinstate Sam Huff From 60-Day IL, Designate Tyler Phillips

By | at

The Rangers have designated right-hander Tyler Phillips for assignment, the club announced.  The move opens up a 40-man roster spot for top prospect Sam Huff, who has been activated from the 60-day injured list and been optioned to Double-A Frisco.

Huff underwent knee surgery back in April, and it seems quite possible that without that injury, he might already be back in the majors.  Huff has yet to play at Triple-A ball and he has only 14 plate appearances at the Double-A level, but the Rangers thought enough of his performance at their alternate training site last season that they promoted Huff to the big leagues in September.  From there, Huff hit three home runs and posted a 1.136 OPS over 33 PA, providing a tantalizing glimpse into his potential as a slugging cornerstone of a future Rangers lineup.

It remains to be seen if Huff will get any time at catcher, as he has played exclusively as a first baseman this season.  It could be that Texas is just easing Huff back into things in the wake of his knee surgery, and he’ll eventually get some action behind the plate before the year is out.  Assuming Huff continues to rake at Double-A and then at Triple-A, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him receive another September call-up before the year is out, as the Rangers could then be eyeing him as a candidate for more regular big-league duty for 2022.

A 16th-round pick for Texas in the 2015 draft, Phillips posted solid numbers in the lower levels of the farm system but began to hit some struggles in Double-A, and his Triple-A debut this season has been even more problematic.  Phillips has a 9.90 ERA over 10 Triple-A frames, with more walks (12) than strikeouts (11).  These control issues are a troubling new development for Phillips, as limiting walks was a strength for the right-hander over his first five pro seasons.

Winter Meetings Preview: Rangers, Rockies

By | at

In advance of the winter meetings, let’s take a moment to quickly preview a couple teams out west…

  • The Texas Rangers have their sights laser-focused on Anthony Rendon, per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Recent additions have more-or-less locked their rotation class, with Kolby Allard, Joe Palumbo and Brock Burke looking like the 5 through 7 options behind Lance Lynn, Mike Minor, Kyle Gibson and Jordan Lyles. Should prices drop on starters like Dallas Keuchel or Hyun-Jin Ryu, the Rangers could add further pitching in the right deal and potentially explore flipping Lynn or Minor, tweets Grant, though that’s less a strategy and more of the “open to anything” ethos employed by most front offices. Otherwise, the group of internal candidates, if expanded, would include Taylor Hearn and Tyler Phillips, plus any vets they are able to grab on minor league deals in the mold of Edinson Volquez (though Volquez himself is more likely ticketed for the pen if he makes the team). The Rangers reportedly offered Zack Wheeler a $100MM contract before he signed with Philadelphia, so the pursestrings have been loosed. For now, however, they’re stuck in traffic waiting to see if the “Adrian Beltre treatment” can sell Rendon on playing the latter half of his career in Arlington. 
  • The Colorado Rockies need for starting pitching is clear, but they are highly unlikely to walk away from the winter meetings with a new arm atop their rotation, per Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. Irrespective of the financial crunch – which is significant and detailed in MLBTR’s Offseason Outlook – the history of Coors Field continues to scare away free agent pitchers. Not to mention, the haunted past of big-ticket hurlers signed by past regimes in Colorado is no less an impediment to building through free agency. Denny Neagle, Mike Hampton, and Darryl Kile can all profess their tale of woe, but Kile’s case is particularly damning given the success he enjoyed in St. Louis once freed from Coors. Speculatively speaking, the Rockies aversion/inability to add frontline pitching via free agency could be a factor in their bearish resistance to trading Jon Gray. If internal development is the only path to roster improvement, trading a talent like Gray would be an even greater white-flag move than under most circumstances.

Players Added To 40-Man Roster: American League

By | at

We’re going to see a whole lot of players added to 40-man rosters in advance of tonight’s deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. We will use this post to track those contract selections from American League teams that are not otherwise covered on the site.

AL West:

  • The Athletics made just one addition to the 40-man roster, righty Daulton Jefferies, which resulted in the DFA of righty Jharel Cotton (more on that move here).
  • The Rangers will add at least four players to their 40-man, per MLB.com’s TR Sullivan (via Twitter). Infielder Sherten Apostel, outfielder Leody Taveras, and hurlers Demarcus Evans and Tyler Phillips are all reportedly set to get a slot. Taveras is the most exciting name of this bunch; by the reckoning of some observers, he’s one of the club’s best prospects. Apostel came over in the Keone Kela trade. The two pitchers are upper-minors arms who could contribute in 2020.
  • There’s 40-man movement elsewhere in Texas as well. Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets that the Astros have tacked on four players: Taylor Jones, Cristian Javier, Enoli Paredes, and Nivaldo Rodriguez. The last of those is the one that came from the farthest reaches of the prospect map (half a season of High-A ball); clearly, the ’Stros see him as an up-and-comer and were worried other teams would as well. Jones had a strong season at Triple-A and could fight for a bench spot. Javier and Paredes could be in the MLB bullpen mix after running up the farm ladder with high strikeout rates in 2019.
  • The Angels have selected second baseman/outfielder Jahmai Jones and lefty Hector Yan, according to the club. Both players (Jones – No. 6; Yan – No. 17) rank among the Angels’ top 20 prospects at MLB.com. The 22-year-old Jones is a 2015 second-rounder who spent the past two seasons at the Double-A level, where he hit .234/.308/.324 in 544 plate appearances in 2019. Yan, a 20-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, rose to Single-A ball this past season and notched a 3.39 ERA/3.17 FIP with a whopping 12.22 K/9 against 4.29 BB/9 over 109 innings.

AL Central:

AL East:

  • Infielder Santiago Espinal and righty Thomas Hatch were the Blue Jays’ pair of roster additions on Wednesday. Toronto jettisoned Tim Mayza and Justin Shafer from the 40-man roster in a pair of corresponding moves, as explored at greater length here.
  • The Orioles announced that they’ve selected the contracts of left-hander Keegan Akin, right-hander Dean Kremer, infielder/outfielder Ryan Mountcastle and outfielder Ryan McKenna. Mountcastle, a former first-rounder, has long been considered among the organization’s most promising minor leaguers. Akin posted a down year in Triple-A in 2019 but has generally been successful and is viewed as a near-MLB ready arm.
  • The Red Sox have added infielders C.J. Chatham and Bobby Dalbec, outfielder Marcus Wilson, and lefties Kyle Hart and Yoan Aybar to their 40-man, the team announced.The most hyped farmhand there is Dalbec, whom MLB.com ranks as the Red Sox’s second-best prospect. The 24-year-old reached the Triple-A level for the first time in 2019 after obliterating Double-A pitching, and he posted a .257/.301/.478 line with seven home runs and 29 strikeouts against just five walks over 123 trips to the plate.
Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

hide arrowsFOX Sports Engage Network scroll to top