The Phillies have added Jeff Singer to their player pool
Left-handed Philadelphia Phillies pitching prospect Jeff Singer — a Holy Cross High School and Rutgers-Camden University alumnus — will turn 27 a week from Sunday. Amid a canceled minor-league season, his dream to earn a call to the big-leagues has now just become a possibility.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Matt Breen, Singer has been added to the Phillies’ 60-man player pool and will report to the team’s alternate training site in Lehigh Valley.
Singer inked a minor-league deal with the Phillies in October 2015, joining the system after going 1-4 with a 5.26 ERA in the last-ever season of the Camden Riversharks.
He started the 2016 season at Williamsport and was twice promoted, to Lakewood and Clearwater; that year, he went a combined 2-1 with a 1.79 ERA and 0.893 WHIP with 46 strikeouts in 40 1/3 innings.
The following year, Singer made his way to Reading and struggled a bit, but rebounded with the Fightin’ Phils in 2018, earning his first and only stint to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. As an IronPig, Singer’s ERA quickly rose to 19.64 in just four outings. Yet, just as he had done before in his career, he found a way to “right the ship.”
Singer never was promoted to Triple-A in 2019, but at the Double-A level, he surely turned some heads: going 7-0 with a 2.34 ERA, 74-22 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 0.989 WHIP across 42 appearances and 61 2/3 innings.
https://t.co/RjJoChgWOe pic.twitter.com/hcrFaIuakZ
— Jeff Singer (@Singsing2424) June 14, 2020
Singer shined some more in the 2019-20 Puerto Rican Winter League, going 3-0 with 2.38 ERA in 11 games. Now, given his addition to the player pool, 2020 could finally be the year Singer will earn his call to “The Show.”
In mid-June, Singer took to social media to share a 16-second clip, showing he is ready to go whencalled upon. His fastball clocked in north of 92 miles per hour.
Given there is no minor-league baseball season, Singer spent the time off working on his game at The Complete Pitcher, a backyard pitching facility belonging to his former Riversharks teammate Ryan Kulik. Kulik went on to pitch at Triple-A for the St. Louis Cardinals and Colorado Rockies; he also recently helped former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Christian Hackenberg become a professional pitcher.
Singer also spent time with the Scanzanos brothers, organizing their One More Game senior baseball event.
Singer is not currently on the Phillies’ 40-man roster and would have to be added in the Phillies promote him from their alternate training site in Lehigh Valley to the majors. Amid the final month of the season, it will be interesting to see if the Phillies call up Singer to see what his impact can be, amid a postseason push.