Phillies: Top 3 reasons to get excited about Archie Bradley

Before signing a one-year, $6 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies, right-hander Archie Bradley mostly pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks across his six-year career, with a brief stint also with the Cincinnati Reds in 2020.  The Reds non-tendered the seventh overall draft pick from the 2011 draft last month, making him a free agent.

Here are the top three reasons why we should be excited for the right-hander to don red pinstripes.

3. His quirky personality

Personality can make or break any relationship and we’ve seen in baseball, in general, over the years just how that can affect an entire baseball team.

Players with those quirky personalities can come into a ballclub and be the spark that they need. They can be the difference makers in how the clubhouse feels after a loss or after a win. If their positive outlook or ability to make their teammates laugh even alters the mood of one teammate, that can have a trickling effect and maybe even help the mentality going into the next game and/or series.

Although we don’t know what happens behind closed doors in clubhouses, we have seen it from time to time in dugouts.

We have to remember; this is a game, after all, and there should still be some fun in it. I personally love to see when the camera spans over to the dugout and there’s a little dance party going on, or at the very least, you see one player making another one laugh. Laughter is a great thing!

Here, Archie talks about an embarrassing moment he had right before a game:

Archie Bradley talks about an embarrassing moment

“Like right before I’m about to go in the game, I pooped my pants.”Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Archie Bradley explains why he wasn't so clean even though his pitching was.�He is this week’s Yahoo Sports MLB podcast guest.Apple: http://apple.co/2uUqcoi Android: http://bit.ly/2HOkEB1 https://yhoo.it/2Msw4ZQ

Posted by Yahoo Sports on Tuesday, June 26, 2018

It takes someone who can laugh at themselves to be able to share something like that!

Speaking of laughter, I don’t think we can forget to talk about how Archie’s fans would sometimes don fake beards, in support of him. There was even a T-shirt made with Archie’s full face and beard on it that read “Bring In The Beard.”

Also, you have got to love this tweet that Archie tweeted after he joined the Phils:

And, here is his quote after hitting a two-run triple in 2017, off of no other than Pat Neshek:

I mean, you’ve got to love him!

Former Arizona Diamondbacks relief pitcher Archie Bradley (Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports)

2. Archie Bradley has closing experience

As we all know, the Phillies bullpen has needed help and possibly had arguably one of the worst bullpens in the 2020 season. There have been guys in the closer roles who should maybe have been in the set-up man roles, like Hector Neris, or even just used in earlier innings. Taking pressure off of them to perform in a closing role could make a big difference.

Adding Archie Bradley into the bullpen definitely has the potential of positively affecting the rest of the bullpen in that they could be taken out of closing considerations, at least most of the time.

Having a legitimate closer in a bullpen can literally be a game-changer. Certain pitchers are just made for that role and with Archie’s talent, he’s certainly become one of them.

Bradley began his career as a starter but has since moved into the bullpen, most recently in the role of closer. In 2017, Archie became a reliever in the Diamondbacks bullpen, huge beard and all. He pitched in 63 games that season, had a record of 3-3 and an ERA 1.73, recording 1 save. He even became the first relief pitcher to hit a triple in Major League Baseball postseason history.

Becoming the set-up man in 2018, that season he went 4-5 over 76 games, had an ERA of 3.64 and recorded 3 saves.

Beginning the 2019 season, Bradley continued in the set-up man role before becoming the closer by the middle of the season. He went 4-5 over 66 games, had an ERA of 3.52 and recorded 18 saves. In August 2020, Archie was traded to the Cincinnati Reds. Before joining the Reds, Bradley was 1-0 with a 4.22 ERA over 10 games, with 6 saves. After joining the Reds, he went 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA over 6 games, with no recorded saves.

He is undoubtedly a huge upgrade to the bullpen.