Phillies rumor: Club to re-sign right-hander Vance Worley?
By Matt Rappa
Former Phillies pitcher Vance Worley could soon re-sign with the club
The Philadelphia Phillies kick off a three-game series tonight against the New York Mets. The team’s pitching, to say the least, has not been ideal — particularly their relief pitchers.
Help could soon be on the way through a reunion with their former right-handed pitcher, Vance Worley.
Coincidentally, Worley’s last game with the Phillies was against the Mets on August 28, 2012. Overall, the right-hander has not pitched professionally since four games with the New York Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in 2018.
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Worley could soon be making a comeback in red pinstripes, eight years later.
The movement started through a viral Wednesday afternoon tweet from Scot Teller. an actor and former Reading Phils bullpen catcher, showing Worley throwing 98 miles per hour on the radar gun at a San Diego, California-based facility.
Early Friday evening, Worley tweeted a picture of him donning his iconic goggles at the Philadelphia airport with the caption, “Yooooooo,” spreading rumors that he could be re-signing with the Phillies.
https://twitter.com/ScotTeller21/status/1293611282537623552
Through eight seasons in the majors, from 2010 to 2017, Worley posted a 35-36 record, 4.09 ERA, 497-220 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 1.433 WHIP spanning 163 games and 97 starts. Three of those years came with the Phillies, in which he went 18-13 with a 3.50 ERA, before being traded to the Minnesota Twins — along with then-pitching prospect Trevor May — in exchange for outfielder Ben Revere.
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After his Phillies tenure, Worley pitched in 10 starts for the Twins in 2013, before appearing for the Pittsburgh Pirates (2014-15), Baltimore Orioles (2016) and Miami Marlins (2017).
Worley returning to the Philadelphia would only help manager Joe Girardi‘s squad’s bullpen. It would be interesting to see just how major-league ready the right-hander would be. If he indeed re-signs, Worley might need a couple of weeks of action at the alternate training site in Lehigh Valley before being added to the active, 28-man roster.