Phillies prioritizing bullpen with win-now mentality on Day 1 of the 2025 MLB Draft
Photo Credit: Yong Kim/Philadelphia Inquirer
It is no secret that the Philadelphia Phillies bullpen has been the team’s biggest weakness this season. While the Phillies are leading the National League East heading into this week’s Major League Baseball All-Star break, their lead over the New York Mets in second place is only half a game thanks to a bullpen that ranks eighth-worst in MLB in earned run average. However, the Phillies have prioritized strengthening their relief arsenal with college-ready arms on the first day of the 2025 MLB Draft.
While some years have been good and some have been bad, there are always question marks surrounding the Phillies bullpen. Long gone are the days where they had Brad Lidge, a true elite closer, who had 41 saves in 41 save opportunities en route to a World Series ring and a top-10 finish in NL MVP voting in 2008. Since the team returned to the playoffs in 2022 following an 11-year drought, they have tried more than a handful of veteran relievers to fill high-leverage roles.
In 2022, a year that ended in a World Series appearance and defeat, the Phillies spent money on veteran Cory Knebel and traded pitching prospect Ben Brown for half a season of closer David Robertson. Neither had stellar campaigns with the Phillies, who ended up using two starters, Zach Eflin and Ranger Suarez, as back-end bullpen arms come playoff time.
In 2023, the Phillies lost in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks. While many fans will blame the bats going silent with just three runs in the final two games, it was bullpen collapses in Games 3 and 4 that had the Phillies heading back to Citizens Bank Park for Games 6 and 7. In Game 3, it was rookie Orion Kerkering who failed to record an out in the seventh inning, allowing the Diamondbacks to tie the game before veteran closer Craig Kimbrel gave up two walks and two hits in the bottom of the ninth to lose the game. Game 4 was even worse for the Phillies, who had a 5-2 lead in the seventh but allowed four runs in the seventh and eighth to lose the game. Kimbrel, who had an up and down regular season, was charged with back-to-back losses.
In 2024, the Phillies made two moves to try improving their bullpen at the trade deadline, acquiring Los Angeles Angels closer Carlos Estevez and Chicago White Sox reliever Tanner Banks. They would also trade away struggling relievers Seranthony Dominguez and Gregory Soto in exchange for Baltimore Orioles outfielder Austin Hayes, who never panned out and is no longer with the club. Along with Dominguez and Soto, the Phillies also gave up bench bat Cristian Pache and prospects George Klassen, William Bergolla, and Samuel Aldegheri to make these moves happen.
Estevez had six saves in 20 games for his new team, but split save opportunities in a bullpen that didn’t have a pitcher with more than 13 saves on the season. Estevez pitched in three playoff games with the Phillies and will be remembered for giving up a grand slam to Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor in Game 4 of the National League Division Series, a series the Phillies would lose in four games after winning the division for the first time since 2011. Banks and Hays had minimal impact on the team’s second-half and postseason run.
The holes in the Phillies pen would get bigger coming into the 2025 season, one with extremely high expectations. Estevez walked in free agency, signing with the Kansas City Royals while the team’s best relief pitcher over the last two seasons, Jeff Hoffman, attracted major interest elsewhere, ultimately signing with the Toronto Blue Jays. Both expressed a strong desire to come back after the season ended, but President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski went with a different approach.
While giving a larger role to third-year reliever Kerkering, Dombrowski signed free-agent closer Jordan Romano, who was coming off an injury-ravaged season, but earned back-to-back All-Star selections in 2022 and 2023. It was a bold move from the veteran Dombrowski, who was putting a lot of weight on the shoulders of his starting pitchers and young relievers.
The Romano signing was visually painful out of the gate and hasn’t gotten much better for the Canadian. In his first 12 appearances with his new team, Romano posted a 12.19 ERA, allowing 14 earned runs in 10.1 innings pitched. While Romano settled down in May with a 2.53 ERA in 10.2 innings, he has posted an ERA north of seven in June and July. He is not the only one who has struggled in the Phillies bullpen this season.
The Phillies bullpen has the eighth-worst ERA in baseball (4.37) and have used 15 different relievers through the first half of the season. The always reliable Matt Strahm has been inconsistent and has blown a team-high four saves. Joe Ross, another offseason signing from Dombrowki, has a 5.40 ERA. Jose Alvarado, a mainstay at the back end of the Phillies pen, was suspended 80 games in May after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. Prior to his suspension, the 30-year-old was dominant with a 2.70 ERA and seven saves in 20 games. Alvarado is eligible to return in mid-August, but will be ineligible for the postseason due to his in-season suspension. Carlos Hernandez and Jose Ruiz, both middle relievers, were designated for assignment after struggling mightily. However, credit is owed to Dombrowski, who is seeing his move to give Kerkering more of a workload pay off. The 24-year-old has a 2.74 ERA and has only allowed two home runs.
There have been many names floated out in trade rumors that would be welcomed additions to the Phillies bullpen, including Minnesota Twins duo Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax, Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase, and Pirates reliever Dennis Santana. To get any one or two of those names, especially the closers, Duran and Clase, the Phillies would likely have to part with more than one top prospect. The Phillies have already used a lot of money and prospects to fill holes in their bullpen over the las few years, with no player sticking with the team for more than two seasons.
It’s time the Phillies looked into developing homegrown bullpen arms and that started with the first three rounds of the 2025 MLB Draft on Sunday.
With their first-round pick, the 26th selection, the Phillies took pitcher Gage Wood from the University of Arkansas. If the name sounds familiar, it is. Wood threw the third no-hitter in College World Series history on June 16th. With one of the best fastballs in the draft and a nasty curveball, Wood was a steal for the Phillies at the back end of the first round. The Phillies would like Wood to be a starter, but if necessary, he could be ready to come out of their bullpen in October.
Two more college arms were taken on Day 1, showing a clear win-now mentality by selecting pitchers who could be fast-tracked to the big leagues sooner rather than later, which is the advantage of drafting college talent over high school prospects.
The Phillies took Cade Obermueller from Iowa in the second round and Cody Bowker from Vanderbilt in the third round. Obermueller, a left-handed pitcher, has a wicked slider and strukout 117 batters in 83.1 inning pitched in 2025. Bowker, a right-handed pitcher, has a great fastball with significant rise that would translate well to a bullpen role.
“We are very excited coming away with who we got tonight,” said Brian Barber, Phillies director of scouting. “When Gage was there, he was the highest player on our board, and we took him.
“We loved all three guys a lot tonight before tonight’s draft.”
Wood was the first college player taken in the first round by the Phillies since Barber was hired in 2020.
As of the posting of this article, the Phillies have made eight picks in the 2025 MLB Draft, eight pitchers, seven from the college ranks. It is clear that the Phillies are prioritizing improving their bullpen from within, and relatively quickly. While the chances of seeing more than one or two of these guys in the majors by the end of this year are slim, many could start having an impact on the rotation or bullpen come 2026.
The Phillies have had recent success fast tracking college arms to the bullpen. Kerkering, the team’s most consistent reliever this season, was drafted in the fifth round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of the University of South Florida, has pitched in 59 minor league games, and made his major league debut in 2023. Phillies management will hope a handful of their college draft picks from this year can follow the same path as Kerkering.
Drafting all these pitchers also allows the Phillies to easily replenish the pitching depth in their farm system if they do decide to make a trade that includes a pitching prospect or two. Top pitching prospects Mick Abel, who had a solid stint with the big club earlier this season, and Andrew Painter, who has struggled in the minors since coming back from Tommy John surgery, could me on the move, if Dombrowski decides to swing for the fences at this year’s trade deadline.
