Phillies send Zach Eflin to disabled list, recall Enyel De Los Santos
By John Town
The Phillies placed starter Zach Eflin on the disabled list to recover from a finger blister that has plagued him since the start of the month.
After staying relatively healthy early in the season, injuries are finally eking their way into the Phillies rotation. Zach Eflin is the latest casualty as the team placed him on the disabled list Saturday night due to a finger blister. Enyel De Los Santos was recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley and will make Eflin’s start Sunday against the Marlins.
The blister first popped up in Eflin’s start July 3 against the Orioles. He cruised through the first seven innings with just 82 pitches. Eflin could have kept going, but he was removed due to the blister. After the game, he said it wasn’t anything to worry about, that he just cut his fingernails too short. Eflin then made his next start against the Mets seemingly without issue, giving up three runs in five innings.
Unfortunately, the blister was not healing as expected. Manager Gabe Kapler told reporters after Saturday’s game that the team wanted to take care of it now and keep Elfin healthy: [quote via Max Goodman of MLB.com]
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"“It’s one of those things you have to take care of,” Kapler said. “It’s still there, and we want to be cognizant of the fact that we don’t just need him for one start. We want to knock this out and be in a good position going forward.”"
Eflin stated that he should be ready to go when the second half comes around: [quote via Goodman]
"“The blister didn’t really heal in the time that I had hoped or wanted,” Eflin explained.“So, just going to skip tomorrow and take the All-Star break to get the blister right and have a healthy second half. I’m going to probably be on 10, 11 days rest, and it’ll be completely gone by the time we get back for the second half and I’ll be ready to rock and roll.”"
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Keeping Eflin healthy should be a priority for the Phillies. In 12 starts this year, he has a 3.15 ERA, 7-2 record, 3.02 fielding-independent pitching, 1.078 WHIP, and 4.79 strikeout-to-walk ratio. After being a below-replacement player the last two years, Eflin has been worth two wins above replacement this season. He has arguably been the team’s second-best starter behind Aaron Nola this season. Eflin will be counted on to make plenty of important starts down the stretch.
De Los Santos will make his second major-league start Sunday. In his debut Tuesday night against the Mets, he gave up three runs in 6.1 innings, striking out six and walking three.
He was optioned back to Triple-A after his debut with Vince Velasquez returning the next day, but Eflin’s injury re-opened a spot for De Los Santos in the rotation.
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De Los Santos’s start Sunday will help give a better understanding of how he fares against major-league competition.