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Alvarado, Brogdon and Coonrod: Bullpen Faces Question Marks Headed into Opening Day

José Alvarado pitched a clean inning Sunday, locking down another bullpen role—who will claim the other nine spots?

Author:
Ben Silver
Apr 3, 2022 8:00 PM EDT

José Alvarado made his first in-game appearance in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform in 182 days on Sunday against the Detroit Tigers. Just five days out from Opening Day, major question marks remain among the relievers that might fill the Phillies bullpen.

April's 28-man roster expansion means the Phillies will likely carry 10 relievers, instead of the usual eight.

Corey Knebel, Seranthony Domínguez, Brad Hand, Jeurys Famillia and Bailey Falter were the only locks to make the Opening Day roster going into the weekend. That left five more spots to relieve what will undoubtedly be a beleaguered starting rotation.

After Sunday, Alvarado can be added to that group. According to the BayCare Ballpark radar gun, he touched 101 mph on his fastball during his first outing of the spring.

Nick Nelson is another pitcher who can likely be added to the list of players making the Opening Day roster.

He's made four appearances this spring for 7.0 innings pitched, allowing just one run—a home run—on 10 strikeouts and no walks. It seems he's finally ready to take on big league hitting after brief appearances in 2020 and 2021 that did not inspire any confidence in the young reliever.

Christopher Sanchez is another player who can likely be penciled in with the Philadelphia bullpen on Opening Day. By virtue of a strong spring and a spot on the 40-man roster, it makes strong logical sense that Sanchez, who is a multi-inning reliever, will join the big-club.

That leaves two more spots. One of those would have certainly been filled by Sam Coonrod.

According to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, Coonrod will miss Opening Day due to a strained right shoulder. This could end up being a lingering issue if it's not treated properly, so the Phillies medical staff will likely give him extra time to recover entirely and rejoin the team.

The bullpen's final spot may be filled by Connor Brogdon, but his spring has been disastrous.

When healthy, he was one of the Phillies most consistent pieces out of the bullpen in 2021, pitching 57.2 innings for a 3.43 ERA. But this spring he's made three appearances for 2.1 innings and a 15.43 ERA with four walks to two strikeouts.

It hasn't been pretty.

Brogdon has lost up to 4 mph on his fastball, a pitch he threw as hard as 98mph in 2021. This spring he's consistently been throwing it 92 mph.

“Everything feels fine,” Brogdon said in an article by Matt Gelb of The Athletic. “I’m probably pretty much as surprised as you guys are when I look up and I see 92 on the stadium gun.”

It's not entirely unheard of for a pitcher to miss his target velocity by the end of the spring, but Brogdon has also lacked command and the bite on his wipeout change-up. It would be catastrophic if he faced big league hitters during a regular season game in his current state.

Manager Joe Girardi believes there's still hope for Brogdon to improve and crack the roster by April 8, "I believe he’ll get better each time. I really do.”

But if Brogdon and Coonrod can't fill 28-man roster spots, who's going to take their place?

One option is James Norwood, whom the Phillies claimed off waivers from the San Diego Padres earlier this week. It's unlikely the Phillies would have held a 40-man roster spot for him if they didn't have intentions for him to break camp with the big league club.

That leaves Damon Jones and Ryan Sherriff as the odd men out on the 40-man roster.

Throughout his career, the lefty Sherriff has pitched 44.1 innings for a 3.65 ERA. But those innings came over the course of four different seasons, Sherriff is not someone who can be counted on to throw consistent innings, though he has been solid this spring.

Sherriff has thrown 3.0 innings with four strikeouts, one walk and one earned run allowed.

Damon Jones has had a better spring and has multi-inning potential out of the bullpen. He's pitched 5.1 innings with seven strikeouts, one walk and one earned run.

Jones is untested in the majors besides the four batters he faced in an August game against the Los Angeles Dodgers last year. Perhaps his ceiling is higher than Sherriff's, but his floor is also much lower.

As a lefty with a wipeout slider, Jones could harness that as an effective weapon against fellow lefties, or it could be a meatball against which righties could feast.

We'll find out which player, between Jones, Sherriff and Brogdon, the Phillies choose by April 8, but Jones appears to be the favorite based on the numbers.