Scouting Report on Intriguing New Relievers from Phillies Catchers

CLEARWATER, Fla. — The Phillies have a host of new relievers in camp — they always do — but this year's group has a more unique look to it.

The Phillies added hard-throwing right-handers with five-plus pitch mixes in Brad Keller and Jonathan Bowlan.

They signed a bowling ball sinkerballer in Zach Pop.

They traded for a submarining left-hander in Kyle Backhus, and selected a potential right-handed specialist with a slider and gyroball in the Rule 5 draft, Zach McCambley.

Only two spots are open in the Phillies' bullpen, and Pop may have a leg up on most of the competitors since he is the only one on the 40-man roster who is out of minor-league options. But there are more than a handful of interesting choices for the lowest-leverage relief roles.

There's also veteran right-handers Lou Trivino and Trevor Richards, along with lefties Tim Mayza and Genesis Cabrera.

Keller, McCambley, Mayza, Richards and Cabrera were all on the list to pitch for the Phillies after Cristopher Sanchez in Dunedin Saturday.

J.T. Realmuto and Garrett Stubbs had the chance this week to catch some of these guys in game action for the first time. Here are their scouting reports:

Realmuto on Keller

The Phillies' new setup man was a starting pitcher his first six seasons in the majors before shifting to full-time relief last season with the Cubs.

Typically, pitchers pare down their repertoire upon moving to the bullpen but Keller actually added a pitch, a sweeper.

"He's got a really good fastball, he's able to throw his two-seam and four-seam both to righties and lefties, which, that's two different pitches that are coming in pretty hot that you have to worry about moving," Realmuto said Wednesday after catching Keller's 1-2-3 debut.

"His fastball cuts a little bit and the sinker's got really good to run to it. Those are both really good pitches, and then the slider, sweeper, changeup. He throws his slider for a strike a lot, and the sweeper's a good swing-and-miss pitch.

"He's a converted starter so he has a little bit more of a mix than most bullpen guys do, which is going to be a lot of fun to work with."

Realmuto on Backhus

"Just his angle is really tough. If he throws his fastball in on righties, it's going to be really tough to turn on that just because it's coming in with so much angle. That's something he's been working on this spring, being able to front-hip righties with the fastball and not just throw it away. And also he's working on a changeup.

"I'm pretty sure he dominated lefties pretty good last year but righties gave him more trouble so he's been working on that side of the plate, trying to be a little more effective against righties."

Is it more difficult for pitchers with that arm angle to repeat their mechanics, in Realmuto's experience?

"Not really, man," he said. "It's just getting the confidence to do it. Most guys don't know how good they actually are and how much they can actually command the baseball until they focus on doing something they've never done before. That's what we do with a lot of our pitchers here, we just ask them to do things they haven't done in the past just to see whether they can or not. More often than not – these guys are major-leaguer pitchers — they know how to manipulate the baseball. It's something he hasn't done a ton in the past but he's picked it up really quick."

Kyle Backhus. pic.twitter.com/1VV5qCjeEo
— cam ! (@aokstott) February 22, 2026

Realmuto on McCambley

McCambley talked this week about the importance of the gyro pitch he added last year. He needed a third offering to make his fastball-slider combo more effective.

How does the gyro move?

"It's just really hard and straight down," Realmuto said. "It feels like a really good slider. I think he calls it a cutter on the Pitch Com but it moves like a slider. It's really hard, stays straight for a long time and then at the last second, just darts down. It's a really quality pitch. He threw it well (Wednesday). He was a little erratic with the curveball, but he also just missed with some. It wasn't like he was throwing them all over the place, he just got into some deep counts by barely missing. He's got really good stuff, that gyro's a good pitch.

"He's also been working on a two-seam, so having the ball move two different directions for right-handers is going to make it really tough on them. He's always been able to spin the ball really well with that cutter-gyro pitch and his sweeper's really good as well. He's kind've got the ball moving that way really good which has made him effective, but I think he can be even better on righties. He's been working on getting that two-seam going in the other direction just so they have to worry about both ways."

Stubbs on Bowlan

"I thought Bowlan was great," Stubbs said after catching him for the first time on Thursday. "All of his stuff was great. If I set up on a certain side of the plate it's where he was, which is what you need. Sinker, four-seam, slider today. He just executed well, didn't really miss by much."

Bowlan has six pitches but didn't need his curveball, sweeper or changeup in his first appearance. He's a prime candidate for stints longer than an inning, doing so in 16 of 34 appearances last season with the Kansas City Royals.