Former Phillies prospect makes MLB history with Diamondbacks

Left-hander Tyler Gilbert, formerly a Phillies prospect, has made MLB history.

The Philadelphia Phillies came close to a combined no-hitter in their eventual 6-1 win against the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.

Unfortunately, Archie Bradley blew the no-no in the eight. However, one of their former prospects — traded in February 2020 for outfielder Kyle Garlick — actually got the job done against the potent San Diego Padres lineup.

Pitching for the woeful, 80-loss-club Arizona Diamondbacks, left-handed pitcher Tyler Gilbert was making his first career start (fourth appearance overall) when he went the distance without allowing a hit. Of Gilbert’s 28 Padres batters faced, he walked three and struck out five spanning 102 total pitches and 64 strikes.

Gilbert’s gem made him just the fourth big-league pitcher ever — and the first since 1953 — to toss a no-hitter in his first career start. Also, the performance tied Major League Baseball’s single-season record of eight no-hitters overall. With about six weeks to go, there is a decent chance that No. 9 will happen.

The Phillies drafted Gilbert, now 27, in the sixth round of the 2015 amateur draft out of the University of Southern California.

Spanning 36 appearances while at Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2019, the southpaw went 2-4 with a 2.83 ERA, 1.112 WHIP, and 46-14 strikeouts-to-walks ratio across 47 2/3 innings.

The Phillies would ultimately deal Gilbert to the Los Angeles Dodgers that offseason for Garlick, who went on to slash .136/.174/.182 in a dozen games in red pinstripes last season.

This past December, the Diamondbacks drafted Gilbert from the Dodgers in the Rule 5 Draft — the same team from whom the Phillies plucked eventual two-time World Series champion and four-time Gold Glove Award-winner Shane Victorino in the draft 16 years prior.

Overall, Gilbert has yet to allow an earned run with the Diamondbacks spanning 12 2/3 innings. He has yielded only two hits, one run, and five walks while striking out 10 of his 42 batters faced en route to an impressive 0.553 WHIP ratio.

With Garlick already out of the Phillies organization and Gilbert’s career off to a historic start, it seems as though they already lost this trade.