Phillies Summer Camp 2020: 10 Things You Need to Know

3. The Minor League season is officially canceled

Tuesday evening, Minor League Baseball officially announced the cancelation of their 2020 season. The Phillies will continue to pay their minor-league players $400 a week through the scheduled end of the MiLB season, September 7.

4. Opening Day roster

While the 60-game 2020 Phillies schedule has yet to be released, Opening Day is slated for either July 23 or 24. As many as 30 of the Phillies’ 50-plus players in their player pool can make the team, as long as they are added to the 40-man roster if not done so already.

After two weeks into the season, the rosters will shrink to 28, before shrinking to 26 two weeks later.

5. Alternate training site

Any player within the Phillies’ player pool who does not earn his way onto the 30-man Opening Day roster will report to the team’s alternate training site — Coca-Cola Park, home of the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

These players will stay ready in case the need arises; up to three of these players can be brought with the team on road trips as its “taxi squad.” At least one taxi squad member is required to be a catcher.

6. Player Pool

The Phillies recently named 53 players to their initial player pool for summer camp. Major League teams could have named up to 60, but the Phillies leaving seven spots open allows them flexibility to make additions without risky subtractions. The Phillies can remove a player from their 60-man pool if they want, however they risk losing them.

Recently, the team added its 54th player to the pool: right-handed reliever Anthony Swarzak. Before doing so, they released and re-signed him — in other words, rewrote some language in his contract.

The 34-year-old signed a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training with the Phillies in early February. In five games and as many innings down in Clearwater earlier this year, the 10-year veteran posted a 7.20 ERA and 1.200 WHIP while striking out eight and walking just one.

Klentak said more catchers will be added to the Phillies’ pool this week, in addition to Deivy Grullón, Andrew Knapp and J.T. Realmuto.

Outfielder Odubel Herrera was not included on the team’s initial player pool, but adding him, later on, is still a consideration, according to Klentak: “I think as we get towards the end of spring training, there’ll probably be a second wave of players that join and that could include somebody like Odubel.”

7. No Phillies player has opted out, but team will briefly miss a starter

Several notable players around Major League Baseball have opted to not play this season due to the risk associated with COVID-19.

Among those players including reigning World Series champions Ryan Zimmerman and Joe Ross of the Washington Nationals, Ian Desmond of the Colorado Rockies, as well as Mike Leake of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

No Phillies player has opted out, however starting pitcher Zack Wheeler is planning to enable three days of paternity leave later this month for the birth of his first child, writes NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jim Salisbury. In order to return, Wheeler will need to go through COVID-testing protocols.

“It’s subject to change but right now we’re not anticipating an extended absence,” Klentak said in a conference call with reporters on Monday.

8. Will Alec Bohm and Spencer Howard make the team?

Phillies top hitting prospect Alec Bohm, as well as top pitching prospect Spencer Howard, are both members of the team’s initial player will and will report to South Philadelphia this week for summer camp.

Klentak recently told reporters that Bohm and Howard both being part of the pool shows the organization views them as candidates to compete in the 60-game season. Klentak also said he thinks the Phillies have a “good team” and that they will do everything they can “to put the best team out there and win.”

Still, Salisbury is skeptical the Phillies would add Bohm and/or Howard to their Opening Day roster, even if they have a strong summer camp showing: “It won’t be surprising if the team tries to maximize future control of both players by delaying adding them to the active roster for a week or so.”

With the universal designated hitter being a factor, there are extra at-bats for players, like Bohm, to make an impact in 2020.

9. J.T. Realmuto

Last week, it had been reported that the Phillies are willing to give All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto a record contract in terms of average annual value for catchers.

In conversation with reporters on Monday, Klentak set expectations in that the team is not close to an agreement with Realmuto. Klentak reminded of the transaction freeze that took place over the past three and a half months, and that the team has recently prioritized intake COVID-19 screenings, so he still yet to touch base with the catcher and his agent.

And, due to the uncertainty, talks may not progress much further to a finish line in the near future, either:

“We still love the player. We’d still would love to have him in red pinstripes for the long haul, but there’s a lot of uncertainty in the game right now on a variety of levels, so we just need to factor that all in,” Klentak said. “I wish I had a more concrete timeframe to give you, but I think we just need to play that out because I don’t know the answer.”

Klentak continued: “The landscape we left in March is different from the landscape now. We have to see how that manifests itself. We still love the player and want to have him for the longhaul. There’s a lot of uncertainty right now. We need to factor that in.”

If the Phillies give Realmuto a record deal, it would mean they would have more than $100 million committed to five players next season: Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen, J.T. Realmuto, Jean Segura, and Zack Wheeler.

10. Keeping Players Healthy

Phillies manager Joe Girardi has already been quoted as saying keeping players healthy will be one of his main focuses in summer camp. One way he will do that during the season is utilize the designated hitter role to spare players time off in the field, including McCutchen, Bryce Harper, and J.T. Realmuto, among others.

Perhaps the player he will be most cautious about is outfielder Andrew McCutchen, who was limited to just 59 games early last season due to tearing his ACL. Klentak said McCutchen is now 100 percent, “as far as he knows.”