Phillies make things interesting by calling up relief prospect Phillippe Aumont
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Phillies make things interesting by calling up relief prospect Phillippe Aumont
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
The Phillies' bullpen auditions just got a lot more interesting. The team announced after tonight's win over the Reds that it had recalled right-hander Phillippe Aumont to replace lefty Jeremy Horst, who was placed on the three-day paternity leave list. Aumont, you probably remember, was the centerpiece of the trade that sent Cliff Lee to the Mariners after the 2009 season. It has been an up-and-down season for the big righty. In 41 appearances at Triple-A Lehigh Valley, he recorded 15 saves, posting a 4.26 ERA with 49 strikeouts and 34 walks in 44 1/3 innings.
His last 10 games tell the story of his time in the system. His last time out, he allowed four runs on three hits and a walk without recording a strikeout in 2/3rds of an inning. In the three outings before that, he allowed one baserunner and struck out four. In the three outings before that, he allowed five hits and five walks with five strikeouts and three runs in four innings. And in the three outings before that he allowed one baserunner with three strikeouts in three scoreless innings.
Aumont has a huge arm. He also throws a curve ball and a splitter. Command and composure have been the two big issues with him. Assuming he is here for the rest of the season, it will give fans something interesting to watch as the Phillies try to get a read on their bullpen in advance of what is sure to be a busy offseason.
UPDATED, 11:16 p.m.
Somebody on Twitter asked why the Phillies picked Aumont over righthander Justin De Fratus, who was a September call-up last season and entered spring training as arguably the top relief prospect in the organization. Long story short, the Phillies seem determined to err on the side of caution with regard to De Fratus' elbow, which caused him to miss the first half of the season after he developed a case of inflammation in spring training.
De Fratus has pitched in 17 games since returning from the disabled list, striking out 19 while walking two with a 2.41 ERA in 18 2/3 innings. But he has only pitched on back-to-back days once since returning. In fact, he has had at least two days of rest before 14 of his 17 outings. The minor leagues are a much more structured environment than the majors when it comes to divying up workload. I don't think the Phillies felt like throwing De Fratus into the fire yet.
Vote: Can Utley keep up this level of play next year?
Buy Phillies tickets - It was Gillies, who is currently thriving at Reading...Figure Justin DeFratus to come up next, as he's finally rounding into shape...Regarding Aumont, he looks like a giant Channing Tatum.
— bearsfriend - Hard to blame Amaro for this guy. He was the Mariner's #1 draft choice and Benny Looper who came over here to assist Gillick and stayed on with Amaro, apparently knew the Mariner system inside out having worked in it for like 17 years. Well, apparently he can't judge talent, which may explain why the Mariners languished for so long. You gotta stop reaching, taking a guy high in the draft just because he has a great body with lots of upside. Take baseball players!!!!!!!! Not football players (hello, DBrown) and not hockey players. How many great MLB pitchers has Canada produced? By my recollection......zero. They play hockey there, Aumont did too. Baseball was and is a pipe dream for those people. They are not bred for it. It is not in their genetic makeup. Kids there don't get to grow up playing hundreds of games a year as ours do here in the States. Great body, no talent and no mental makeup to go anywhere in baseball....nie guy, not his fault, he can't help it......IMHO, I might add.— Mark1npt
- I'm amazed that no one in the philly sports world blamed Dave Montgomery,the ownership group he heads has for many years refused to spend money on scouting in latin america.where are all the college ball players that take less time in the minor leagues to develop ? why did the head of drafting and developing young talent resign ? and lastly where are the sportswriters who can cover the organization who do not have ties to comcast,the phillies and the philadelphia news corporation ?— typpy1
- Ferguson Jenkins was a pretty good pitcher from Canada.— johnny eagle
- Philippe .. Pâté de Foie Gras (without the foie gras)— stoky
- This should be fun to watch. You either get Cy Young or Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn. Sometimes against the same batter.— Dull
- Il est Francais— RollinsJim
- Nope, there have never been any decent pitchers from Canada. Except for Ryan Dempster, Jordan Zimmerman, Rich Harden, John Axford, Eric Gagne, Paul Quantrill, Reggie Cleveland, Kirk McCaskill, Eric Bedard, Jeff Francis, Rheal Cormier, Claude Raymond, Pat Scanlan, or Fergie Jenkins.— dasher
- Will Stutes be back next year and healthy? Will Horst continue to be the Lefty reliever they need? Who else makes up the pen next season if Aumont is not here? Will Kyle actually pitch regularly???? Will Vance come back? Yikes. Just who will be the pitchers they need to compete? No BJ please or even Schw. or Valdez . Time for the kids.— Koons
- Aumont -- throw strikes, that simple.
De fratus well see in 2 weeks, and all of next year.
Polly 2 hits - trade him to Balt now for A/A+ propsect, he'll be injured in 2 weeks— WFChamps - This is the time to find out what these guys have---before you have to invest millions of dollars on the free agent market. When Horst returns (a proud papa), I am sure that BJ Rosenberg will be given his walking papers. I don't know who will go when Chooch returns but he may not be ready until after September 1st so it will be a moot point. I really like Eric Kratz. He is so like Chris Coste in what he brings to the team and every team needs that one special guy who inspires everyone else with his never say die attitude. He is not going to hit .500 but he will hit enough to make him an asset at the bottom of the order on days when Chooch needs a blow.— gotedge
- surprised that Amaro would expose this guy to the fans and thereby expose how badly he did in the absurdly stupid Lee deal. Anyway, all of these right-handed guys are basically auditioning for two spots anyway, figuring Papelbon, Lindblom and the guaranteed return of David Herndon, another Rule 5 sweetheart of Amaro's, for spots next year.— advantasux
- Mystified why you guys didn't know Kratz was going to be successful , and Lee and Holaday where going to flop this year. So much for hind thought and armchair managing. You are the same posters who loved these same moves you are crying about now. Give me a break.— Mystified
- Been talking up Kratz for 14 months, and went off when the Phils brought up Dane Sardinha over him early last Summer. — bearsfriend
- Amaro TRYING to make it seem like he's ready to be looked at by the big club because he knows he f'd up in getting this stiff— twpman
