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Phillies Pitcher Zach Eflin’s Knees Flared Up Again

By John Town

Jul 5, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Zach Eflin (56) reacts after getting Powerade dumped on him by right fielder Jimmy Paredes (41) and second baseman Andres Blanco (4)after beating the Atlanta Braves and picking up his first major league win at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies defeated the Braves, 5-1. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 5, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Zach Eflin (56) reacts after getting Powerade dumped on him by right fielder Jimmy Paredes (41) and second baseman Andres Blanco (4)after beating the Atlanta Braves and picking up his first major league win at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies defeated the Braves, 5-1. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports /
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Phillies pitcher Zach Eflin was held out out of throwing live batting practice Friday due to knee soreness, but he said Saturday that he is not worried.

Remember on Tuesday when spring training opened and I wrote about how Zach Eflin‘s knees felt much better? Well that didn’t last long for the Phillies pitcher.

Phils pitchers threw to hitters Friday in live batting practice to help get the players acclimated to live pitching before their first exhibition game Thursday against the University of Tampa. From there it’s on to the official opening to the spring training schedule against the Yankees on Friday.

However, Eflin was held out of pitching due to knee soreness.

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Eflin said to Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly Saturday morning, “It’s just a little something I felt after running sprints two days ago.”

He suffered from chronic tendinitis for over a decade. Eflin went on the disabled list in August and missed the rest of the season. He underwent surgery this offseason to repair both of his patellar tendons.

Manager Pete Mackanin told reporters the soreness was “mild.”

Mackanin said, “He [Eflin] said it was fine, but it’s so early we decided to back him off a little.” The move was mainly precautionrary, similar to shortstop Freddy Galvis withdrawing from the World Baseball Classic due to a groin strain.

Thankfully the soreness shouldn’t keep Eflin out of action much longer. Team doctors evaluated Eflin and they said he will return to the mound on Monday when camp resumes.

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Eflin told Salisbury on Saturday, “Today everything is fine.”

Eflin is still pushing for the outside chance at a spot in the rotation in the event one of Aaron Nola, Jerad Eickhoff, Vincent Velasquez, Jeremy Hellickson, or Clay Buchholz cannot start the regular season in the rotation. More likely than not, Eflin will return to Triple-A along with Jake Thompson and it’s likely he’ll be the first one up in the event of an injury.

In 2016, Eflin started 11 games at the major-league level. He flashed success with two complete games, but he finished his big-league debut with a 5.54 ERA and 1.33 WHIP.

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It appears this knee soreness was a mild flare-up, but it’s something we will always be worried about with Eflin post-surgery.

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