A Blast From Over a Decade in the Past at Phillies Camp Wednesday

The Phillies went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning of Wednesday's exhibition game against Team Canada of the World Baseball Classic, which usually wouldn't register for any reason.

It was notable, though, because they were facing a pitcher who last appeared in the majors as a Phillie ... 11 years ago.

That's right, giant right-hander Phillippe Aumont, the centerpiece of the Phillies' trade of Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners in December 2009, is still pitching for Team Canada. He was on its WBC roster in 2009, 2013, 2023 and again this year.

Aumont's playing days are long over, and he's now a pig farmer in Quebec, as detailed in a fun story at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Aumont retired Adolis Garcia, Bryson Stott and Bryan De La Cruz on a popout to short, groundout to second and flyout to center. He threw 17 pitches and topped out around 93 mph.

Painful memories

Aumont once represented both hope and despair among the Phillies' fanbase. They never got over the Lee trade, which occurred the same week the Phils acquired Roy Halladay from the Blue Jays. The Phillies could have had a historic rotation for two years, 2010 and 2011, rather than just 2011, but they felt at the time they needed to stock back up with perceived top prospects — Aumont, outfielder Tyson Gillies and right-hander J.C. Ramirez — after parting with three others — starting pitcher Kyle Drabek, outfielder Michael Taylor and catcher Travis d'Arnaud — in the Halladay deal.

The Phils, of course, corrected it the following offseason by signing Lee as a free agent to a five-year, $120 million contract. The 2011 rotation featuring Halladay, Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt went on to have a historic season but the team fell short, losing 1-0 in Game 5 of the NLDS to Chris Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Aumont showed brief glimpses as a reliever but things didn't work out for him in the Phillies' organization. He had trouble repeating his mechanics and throwing strikes. He made just 46 appearances and one start over four big-league seasons, posting a 6.80 ERA and 1.99 WHIP.

He ended up latching on with the Blue Jays, White Sox, Tigers and Blue Jays again but never advanced beyond Triple A.

Off to the WBC

The Phillies don't have any players on Team Canada but have two alumni in Aumont and former farmhand Noah Skirrow.

Canada is in Pool A along with Panama, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Colombia. The only Phillie on any of those teams is Edmundo Sosa with Panama.

The World Baseball Classic begins on Friday and the Phils are well represented with Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Brad Keller playing for Team USA, Cristopher Sanchez with the Dominican Republic, Aaron Nola and 2024 first-round pick Dante Nori with Italy, Sosa with Panama, Max Lazar and Garrett Stubbs with Israel, and Taijuan Walker and Alan Rangel pitching for Mexico.

The Phillies are back to their regular Grapefruit League on Thursday against the Red Sox with Jesus Luzardo on the hill.