Phillies spring training prospect report: How are the youngsters faring?
By John Town
Tom Eshelman
The back end of the Phillies rotation is still wide open with no deals anywhere close in free agency. Plenty of pitchers are competing for two spots, but Tom Eshelman is the only one with a chance who doesn’t have major-league experience.
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Eshelman pitched his way to the Paul Owens award as the organization’s best minor-league pitcher last year with a 2.40 ERA, 0.973 WHIP, and 5.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio between Double and Triple-A. He logged 150 innings, a career-high, so the team opted not to call him up at the end of the season.
Now in spring training with the big-league team, Eshelman has the chance to not only make his major-league debut, but get a full-time job.
In two games so far, Eshelman has thrown 3.1 innings, striking out four batters, walking one, allowing two hits and one run. If he keeps pitching well, there may just be a spot in the rotation waiting.