The ongoing negotiations between Major League Baseball and the Player’s Union are contentious and seemingly endless, but they’ve agreed on one thing:
Designated Hitters will return to the National League in 2022.
Now that it’s going to be part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, it’s unlikely we’ll ever see a Philadelphia Phillies pitcher hit again, so we had to know…
Which Philadelphia Phillies pitcher has the last-ever hit in franchise history?
The distinction belongs to Kyle Gibson.
Oh, and it was a home run.
This was also the late-September series in which Ranger Suárez threw a complete-game shutout Maddux, so a pretty great weekend for the Phils.
Over 12 games as a Phillies hitter last season, Gibson had four hits with three runs scored and two RBI. But this was the first (and last) home run of his career.
The Phillies actually drafted Gibson in the 36th round of the 2006 June Amateur Draft, but he did not sign, and went on to be the Minnesota Twins’ first-round pick in 2009. So, it was a full-circle moment when the Phillies acquired Gibson, Ian Kennedy, and Hans Crouse from the Texas Rangers at the trade deadline. He will be back on the Phillies for the 2022 season, as he was signed to a three-year deal prior to the trade.
In retrospect, it’s pretty epic that the final hit by a Phillies pitcher was a home run. Talk about going out with a bang.