With the Major League Baseball regular season officially beginning with the Tokyo Series on Tuesday, fans around the league are chomping at the bit to get meaningful games underway here at home. The Philadelphia Phillies are getting close to the end of their spring training Grapefruit League schedule. As camp winds down, they still have some tough decisions to make about the final few spots on the Opening Day roster.
With at least one bullpen spot open, perhaps two if Matt Strahm is unable to go on March 27, there are only a handful of candidates left in major league camp vying for a major league job to begin the season. Unfortunately for one of those roster hopefuls, Devin Sweet, his Tuesday afternoon outing turned into an appearance that won't do much to endear him to the manager Rob Thomson and the Phillies coaching staff.
Playing a road game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Phillies had very few regulars in the lineup in the 3-2 loss to the Bucs. Brandon Marsh and Max Kepler were both back in the lineup after injury scares on Sunday, while Nick Castellanos provided both of the Phillies' runs, including a solo home run.
Bye bye baseball 👋 pic.twitter.com/0pDy7lKV4Z
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) March 18, 2025
The arms that Thomson ran out there at LECOM Park, however, were anything but scrubs. After Cristopher Sánchez pitched five scoreless innings and left with a 2-0 lead, the skipper called on the big boys to shut down the Pirates the rest of the way. Spring standout José Alvarado threw a 10-pitch scoreless frame with a strikeout. Orion Kerkering, not to be outdone, tossed up a zero over 1 1/3 innings with three punchouts.
Devin Sweet couldn't get the job done despite being in a battle for Opening Day roster spot
In a typical regular season game, we would have seen Jordan Romano take the ball to close out the contest. On Tuesday, it was the right-hander Sweet who was asked to finish things off. He got through the final two outs of the eighth unscathed, with a walk and strikeout. It was when he went back out for the ninth, with a chance to take a stranglehold on an Opening Day roster spot, that things fell apart and he couldn't get the job done.
The Pirates started the frame with a single, followed by a ground-rule double. A pair of sacrifice flies later, the game was tied. Sweet was pulled at 26 pitches. After entering the game with a 4.50 ERA, it ballooned to 6.14 with the blown save.
While it was sidearmer Josh Hejka who gave up the walk-off home run to the Pirates' Javier Rivas, Sweet's outing was the one that the Phillies will be looking at more closely.
JAVIER RIVAS WITH A WALK-OFF HOME RUN!! 💣 pic.twitter.com/OsTTl1edJd
— Young Bucs (@YoungBucsPIT) March 18, 2025
Sweet, who's on the 40-man roster already, is in competition with remaining right-handers Tyler Phillips, Michael Mercado, Kyle Tyler and Nabil Crismatt for the final bullpen spot(s). And while some think that the 28-year-old Sweet has an edge over Crismatt, another favorite who's not on the 40-man, the performance on Tuesday won't help his case.
In 7 1/3 spring innings, Sweet has a 1.50 WHIP with six strikeouts and four walks, with a hold and his new blown save. Crismatt, on the other hand, has a 2.35 ERA and 0.78 WHIP in 7 2/3 innings, with seven strikeouts to just one free pass.
While spring training game results don't mean anything, with final roster decisions right around the corner, they mean a lot for fringe players. Sweet had better hope that he gets another chance to leave a better final impression on the Phillies' decision-makers, or he might find himself optioned to Triple-A to begin the year.