The Phillies have signed left-hander Kolby Allard to a minor league deal, reports Matt Gelb of The Athletic. He’ll head to Triple-A Lehigh Valley and provide the Phils with some non-roster pitching depth.
Allard, 28, just opted out of a minor league deal with the Guardians. He had been pitching well at the Triple-A level prior to getting out of that deal. He had thrown 30 2/3 innings for Columbus, allowing 4.11 earned runs per nine. He struck out 22.4% of batters faced, gave out walks to 7.2% of opponents and induced grounders on 45.3% of balls in play.
The lefty doesn’t throw particularly hard, averaging around 90 miles per hour with his four-seamer and sinker. But he has nonetheless been able to find some major league success at times. He had a 2.63 earned run average in 65 innings with Cleveland last year, though he had some help from a 79.2% strand rate. His 3.54 FIP and 4.41 SIERA pointed to him being a regression candidate. For his big league career as a whole, he has a 5.47 ERA over parts of nine seasons. That includes a 10.38 ERA in a small sample of 8 2/3 innings with the Guards earlier this year.
For the Phillies, the back of their rotation is a big question mark right now. The first three spots are golden, as they have Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez and Jesús Luzardo in those. Aaron Nola is struggling but there’s not much the club can do about that, given his contract and status in the organization. Andrew Painter has been in the rotation all year until this week. He has a 7.06 ERA for the season. His struggles finally became too much to bear yesterday, as he was sent down to the minors.
Bryse Wilson was added to the roster today. He could take a rotation spot or be used as a long reliever. Alan Rangel and Jean Cabrera are on the 40-man roster, though Cabrera has a 9.39 ERA on the farm this year. Rangel’s 3.99 ERA is more palatable but he has just 14 innings of big league experience.
The Phillies have reportedly been exploring the market for back-end starters. Even if they don’t put anything together soon, they will likely enhance their efforts to add starting pitching as the deadline draws nearer. For now, Allard gives them an experienced depth arm who has been putting some decent numbers lately. If Allard eventually gets a roster spot, he is out of options.
Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images
