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Former Phillies top prospect strikes out Shohei Ohtani in Rangers debut

By Gabrielle Starr

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 05: Spencer Howard #48 of the Philadelphia Phillies in action against the New York Mets at Citi Field on September 05, 2020 in New York City. The Mets defeated the Phillies 5-1. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 05: Spencer Howard #48 of the Philadelphia Phillies in action against the New York Mets at Citi Field on September 05, 2020 in New York City. The Mets defeated the Phillies 5-1. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /
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Former Phillies top prospect Spencer Howard strikes out Shohei Ohtani for his first K as a Texas Ranger

The Philadelphia Phillies traded former top prospect Spencer Howard to the Texas Rangers at the trade deadline last Friday.

In exchange for him and two other pitching prospects, the Phillies received starter Kyle Gibson, closer Ian Kennedy, pitching prospect Hans Crouse, and $4 million.

In parts of two big-league seasons, they could not figure out Howard. His velocity would drop after the first few innings, and even though his strikeout rate improved in 2021, his walks rate got worse. He posted a 5.81 ERA over 17 games for the Phillies between his 2020 debut and 2021 before the trade.

But of course, whenever a former top prospect (who is still really a prospect) is dealt, fans of the original team are curious to see how he will pan out. The question at every deadline is, will our team end up winning or losing the trade?

It’s Thursday afternoon, and Howard is currently making his first start as a Ranger. After walking Angels leadoff man David Fletcher on four straight pitches, Howard faced Ohtani, already a living legend, and struck him out.

Pretty much the coolest first strikeout a young pitcher could hope to get.

In his first start for the Phillies on Sunday, Gibson impressed immediately, though the bar is quite low for rotation arms not named Zack Wheeler. He threw a season-high 113 pitches, went into the seventh inning, and struck out the 1,000th batter of his career.

Since the trade, the Phillies have won their last four games (including Gibson’s debut) and are two games above .500.

Obviously, Howard’s first inning as a Ranger is the smallest of small sample sizes. But Ohtani is Ohtani, and watching their former top prospect strike him out for his first Texas K has to have Phillies fans feeling both impressed and uneasy.

Update:

Still a small sample size, but apparently, Howard is still Howard.

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