Phillies claim Carlos Hernández, DFA Tyler Phillips

Philadelphia claimed the right hander from the Kansas City Royals

Soon after today’s game against the Detroit Tigers, the Phillies announced that they have claimed right-handed pitcher Carlos Hernández from the Kansas City Royals. To make room for Hernández, the team also announced that they have designated Tyler Phillips for assignment.

Hernández owns a career 4.95 ERA across five big-league seasons spent with the Royals. The 28-year-old appeared in 27 games out of the bullpen with Kansas City last year and logged a 3.30 ERA in 30 IP with 27 strikeouts to 16 walks. Hernández is a big right hander at 6’4, 225 ponds and features a big fastball, averaging 97.9 MPH on his heater and primarily throws a slider as his secondary pitch. He also mixes in a knuckle curve and a splitter. Despite his impressive velocity, Hernández has a pedestrian 20.2% career strikeout rate with a high career walk rate of 11.2%.

Phillips meanwhile was in the mix with Taijuan Walker to occupy the long man spot in the Phillies bullpen or possibly start in place of an injured Ranger Suárez. He has struggled this spring to the tune of a 7.59 ERA in seven appearances. Phillips was a depth piece that came up from the Minors last season to alleviate an injury devastated back of the Phillies rotation. He surprisingly delivered four impressive appearances to start his MLB career and won his first three starts. Phillips capped it off with a complete game shutout against the Guardians on July 27th in the ballpark he grew up going to as a fan in Citizens Bank Park.

But the magic ran out soon after however, as Phillips allowed 17 runs across his next three starts before being sent back to Triple-A in late August. He returned for one more appearance in September and allowed 6 runs in two thirds of an inning. There is a decent chance that Phillips clears waivers, and the Phillies can elect to either send him to Triple-A to begin the season or release him.