Potential Orioles trade steal gets off to rough start after Phillies' latest roster move

It was announced on Monday that the Philadelphia Phillies had to place right-handed reliever Jonathan Bowlan on the 15-day injured list due to a right groin strain, and so to take his place, Seth Johnson was called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

For those needing a refresher on how these newly(ish) acquired names came to sit in the Phillies' bullpen, Bowlan, who over his six and one-third innings pitched, posted a 3.86 ERA, a WHIP of 1.29, and tallied eight strikeouts in his few appearances before the groin strain, was acquired this past offseason from the Kansas City Royals in the deal that sent veteran lefty Matt Strahm back to the team that initially drafted him.

Johnson, who made his first appearance in the 2026 season for the Phillies on Monday night in a 13-7 blowout win over a struggling Chicago Cubs team, came over from the Baltimore Orioles in 2024 in the Gregory Soto exchange. Johnson needed Tommy John surgery going into his age 25 season, but the Phils are receiving the hard-thrower at such a young age that it still allows for Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham and his staff to mold the young righty into a primed reliever.

Seth Johnson still looks like a wise investment despite rough Phillies season debut

In his first full season with the Phillies in 2025, he appeared in 10 big league games for the club. After almost 50 games between Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley,the club decided it would be best for him to move from the IronPigs starting rotation to the bullpen, and that's where he's stayed since last April.

Despite getting knocked around in the latter half of his appearance Monday night against the Cubs, Johnson's five pitch arsenal, and his durability to pitch longer than one inning in relief, made him the perfect arm to relieve starter Crístopher Sánchez after he threw six brilliant innings, only allowing two runs in that time.

In the seventh, his first inning of relief, Johnson initially walked Cubs' infield prospect Matt Shaw after a nine-pitch at bat. He then proceeded to collect three easy outs thanks to a fielder's choice, a groundout, and a lineout.

In the eighth inning, Johnson wasn't as lucky. He gave up five runs and four hits, with his two primary pitches, his four-seam fastball and his slider, continuing to give him trouble during his second inning of relief. Despite Johnson clearly not having command of his best stuff, it still must be noted that two of the runs scored in that inning were from fielding errors outside Johnson's control. Still, the young reliever did let the Cubs bat around in their half of the eighth.

A perk to the 27-year-old's advantage, though, is the fact that, at least for the next few weeks, he'll be able to work with the highest levels of the Phillies pitching staff. That will not only allow him to continue to build durability to be the longterm reliever who can close out a game like last night's and avoid taxing the bullpen's "everyday" arms, but also a reliever who can comfortably rely on the deeper part of his arsenal. When he's left with just a mid-90s fastball and a slider that lacks ideal break, he can get into trouble.

There was a lot of promise in Johnson's two innings of relief, despite the 16.20 ERA from Monday night. Perhaps with continued appearances at the big league level and continued access to the Phillies' best coaches, he'll begin to settle in more, so his future starts will resemble more of seventh-inning Seth Johnson instead of eighth-inning Seth Johnson.

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