Phillies 2016 Grades: Rotation
By Matt Veasey
ZACH EFLIN
Eflin will only turn 23 years of age as the 2017 regular season gets underway, and it is expected that he should be healthy for spring training after undergoing surgery to repair a torn right patella tendon.
Obtained along with lefty relief prospect Tom Windle in the December 2014 deal that sent Jimmy Rollins to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Eflin made a solid showing at AA Reading in 2015 and at AAA Lehigh Valley this season.
He was promoted to the Phillies to make his big league debut on June 14th, when he was bombed by the host Toronto Blue Jays to the tune of eight earned runs on nine hits over just 2.2 innings.
But from his second start on June 19th out through July 22nd, Eflin was perhaps the Phillies best starting pitcher for a month stretch of the season.
During that seven-start period, Eflin went 4-3 with a 2.08 ERA, allowing just 36 hits over 47.2 innings with a 24/5 K:BB ratio.
For good measure, Eflin also tossed a pair of complete games, one of those a three-hit shutout of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He is still the only Phillies starting pitcher to go the distance more than once this season.
However, Eflin fell apart over his final three starts, and something was clearly wrong. After being bombed by the LA Dodgers on August 8th, he was finally shut down. The torn patella tendon diagnosis came shortly thereafter.
Suffering from knee issues since childhood, Eflin is now slated to have surgery on his other knee in the first week of October.
It is hoped that these two surgical procedures will alleviate those troubles once and for all, and that he will be ready to compete for a role in the starting rotation at spring training.