Will De Fratus be 'penned in?

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Justin De Fratus sat in an office chair in front of his locker and swayed back and forth. The clubhouse was nearly empty. The 25-year-old righthander is the kind of guy who can blend into a background. Businesslike, you might call his demeanor. But talk with him for a minute or two and you'll feel the anticipation that burns beneath that mild-mannered exterior.

About 10:30 Wednesday morning, De Fratus and six or seven other pitchers filed onto the line of practice mounds that sit in the shadow of Bright House Field.

For 10 minutes, he stared in at home plate, delivering a mixture of fastballs and sliders that thwacked into the mitt of the catcher behind home plate. After he finished, he spotted a coach and said, with a grin, "So this is what it feels like to come to spring training healthy."

Later, De Fratus recalled those words. "It's night and day," he said. "I feel perfect."

Looking to impress some friends with a spring training sleeper? Dropping De Fratus' name might pay some dividends when it comes time for the Phillies to set their Opening Day roster. While he isn't the brightest blip on the radar, the hard-throwing reliever is going to get plenty of chances to secure one of the two or three spots in the bullpen that aren't already locked up by veterans signed to major league contracts. And even if he ends up back at Triple A Lehigh Valley to start the season, De Fratus is likely to play a prominent role in one of the most intriguing story lines of a Phillies spring training that hosted its first official workout on Wednesday.

For much of the last 5 years, the Phillies have stocked their bullpen almost exclusively with veterans. From 2008 through 2011, they opened the season with at least five relievers over the age of 30 on their roster, the majority of them signed to guaranteed contracts. This year, they have three such pitchers: Jonathan Papelbon, Mike Adams and Chad Durbin. With 27-year-old lefty Antonio Bastardo the only other reliever to have a spot locked up (presumably, at least), the Phillies have at least two and likely three bullpen positions up for grabs.

The pitchers who will be competing for those two or three spots on the Opening Day roster all have profiles similar to De Fratus: young, homegrown, and hard-throwing, with just enough major league experience to feel like the bigs is where they belong.

With Grapefruit League play scheduled to start a week from Saturday, the Phillies' spring camp features at least nine relievers who have a legitimate chance of winning one of the relief jobs. If there is a front-runner in the group, it is probably 27-year-old Jeremy Horst, who last year posted a 1.15 ERA while averaging 11.5 strikeouts, 4.0 walks, and 0.3 home runs per nine innings in 32 appearances. But he is not so far ahead of the curve that he cannot lose a spot to 26-year-old Jake Diekman (3.95 ERA, 11.5 K/9, 6.6 BB/9, 0.3 HR/9, 32 games in 2012), or even 35-year-old Raul Valdes (2.90 ERA, 10.2 K/9, 1.5 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9, 27 games).

And those are just the lefties.

"We have some very interesting things going on down there," pitching coach Rich Dubee said.

Interesting, because the Phillies have three lefties who finished in the top four in the NL in strikeout rate, each of them immediately behind Reds howitzer Aroldis Chapman (Bastardo, Diekman, Horst, minimum 20 innings). Interesting, because the two relievers with the highest ceilings might be De Fratus and fellow righty Phillippe Aumont, both of whom joined the big-league roster late last season. Interesting, because all of these players will be attempting to beat out a righty who just 2 years ago used a spectacular spring to put himself in position for an early-season promotion. That would be Mike Stutes, who played a pivotal role in helping the Phillies' bullpen weather a string of injuries during the 2011 season.

Now 26, Stutes was something of a forgotten man this offseason after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder (he last pitched in late-April). But Stutes said the surgery has restored his full range of motion and, in the process, eliminated what he described as a "clicking" sound in the joint.

"I feel like I have a brand new shoulder," Stutes said.

The surgery was not major and did not involve any significant structural alterations. In fact, Stutes said he feels like he has even more zip on his fastball now than he did in 2011.

"Hopefully, he's healthy," Dubee said. "He seems to be healthy. He's throwing the ball fine and saying all the right things. He'll get out there just like everybody else."

A lot depends on the roles the Phillies envision for each individual reliever. For example, Dubee projects Durbin in a multiple-innings role similar to the one he filled during his first stint with the team. That also is a role Stutes could slot into. If the Phillies feel another reliever is better suited for the day-to-day grind of batter-by-batter duty, it could factor into the final roster decisions.

At the same time, Dubee says that he would prefer to keep the six or seven pitchers who are performing the best come Opening Day, regardless of their dominant hand or the long-term future the organization envisions for them.

"Our concern is with going with the best team we can put together," he said.

Which brings us back to De Fratus. He entered last spring hoping to put himself in position for an early-season call-up but never got into gear, developing soreness in his pitching elbow that kept him sidelined until July. As he rehabbed his injury, he watched as virtually every righthanded reliever in the upper levels of the minors got a chance to solve the Phillies' late-game woes. While Aumont has always been rated higher by scouts, De Fratus has dominated at every level of the minors during his steady rise to Triple A.

"That's all you want is a chance to compete," he said.

This year, he will get it.

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