Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson says Seranthony Domínguez will be activated on Sunday

Reliever Seranthony Domínguez will be activated off of the 15-day injured list on Sunday, according to interim manager Rob Thomson. Domínguez, one of the Phillies’ most dominant relievers, hasn’t pitched in a game for them since Aug. 17. He was put on the injured list on Aug. 21 (retroactive to Aug. 18) with right triceps tendinitis and went on a rehab assignment to triple-A Lehigh Valley on Thursday.

Domínguez pitched one inning, allowing two walks with one strikeout. Thomson said he was hitting 98-100 mph on the radar gun. He did a workout Friday at Lehigh Valley.

Domínguez will provide another arm at Thomson’s disposal to use in the later innings. He has a 1.64 ERA over 44 innings this season.

MLB announced a series of rule changes for the 2023 season ahead of Friday’s game against the Nationals, changes that undoubtedly will shape the game and how it’s played moving forward. Thomson, who has worked as a minor league coach since 1988, knows better than to comment on the changes.

“I think anything that can speed up the game, put more action in the game, and keep players healthy I’m all for it,” he said on Friday.

» READ MORE: Aaron Nola has seen it all with the Phillies — except the playoffs. And he wants in on the fun.

The three changes were the implementation of a pitch timer, the ban of the defensive infield shift, and bases that will increase from a 15-inch square to an 18-inch square.

Rhys Hoskins is among the players who made the most outs on ground balls and line drives hit into shifts this year — with 61 — and has conflicted feelings about the new rule.

“I mean I think that it’s, in the conversations that I’ve had, it’s been pretty split between hitters and non-hitters,” he said Friday. “I do think that they should bring some sort of strategy into the game, which I like, but I also think you’re taking away some of the instinct and baseball IQ and athletic ability of some of the most athletic people on the field, in the middle infield.

“As a hitter, I’ll obviously be excited about it. I’ll be curious to see what it does, if it gives us more hits, if we’re pitched differently, there are a ton of different adjustments that could happen. But I’m in favor of just letting us as players and athletes just be athletes.”

Hoskins isn’t sure how he’ll be pitched to differently, but suspects that it’ll involve getting more outside pitches, and maybe fewer sinkers. The change undoubtedly will affect ground-ball pitchers, like Phillies starter Kyle Gibson, as well.

“You can make ground balls by pitching them in a certain spot; you can kind of pitch to that swing,” Gibson said. “For instance, if a guy is looking to pull a sinker down and away, they have to get around that ball and extend their arms more to pull that ball through the four hole. If you know a guy is trying to do that, especially against a sinker guy, pitching inside is very beneficial. Because if he’s trying to get his arms extended to get around the baseball to pull it, it’s going to be a slower swing, so if you pitch inside, you can jam him.

“I don’t know (how it’s going to impact my game plan). Probably not a ton. But there’s certain situations … say you’ve got a guy on second with less than two outs. If I know that that guy has a base hit possibility to the right side, he’s going to try to take it as a left handed hitter. You can pitch to him a little bit differently knowing that he’s probably going to try to pull the ball, and you can kind of take that ability away from him a little bit.”

» READ MORE: First Lady Jill Biden makes pregame appearance at Phillies’ childhood cancer awareness night

Hoskins and Gibson agreed that the implementation of a pitch clock would impact not just pitchers, but hitters, too.

“I think it’s going to affect position players and pitchers alike,” Gibson said. “If there’s nobody on base, a position player will have seven seconds from the time the pitch is delivered to do what he needs to do, get ready for the next pitch, and get back in the box or else it’s a strike. Seven seconds is not a long time. You have a third base coach giving signs. You have a manager giving signs to him just before that position player gets in the box.

“Fifteen seconds seems like it’s doable, right? Even NBA has a 24-second shot clock. The NFL has 45-second play clock. NFL is doing everything electronically. Players will get used to that stuff. It is what it is. MLB has the ability to determine certain rules of the game, however they want to do it. I don’t know how they come up with some of their ideas. Rob Manfred has that power to determine the rules.

“I personally think we could be doing a better job of explaining the intricacies and the nuances of the game that happen in between pitches much better. Explaining to fans and people watching on TV, hey, you see this subtle shift right here with two strikes, this is why. Maybe this time the game takes a little bit longer, here’s why. Every baseball team would love to play a game in three hours and five minutes, whatever it is, but every baseball team wants to win every game. So if it takes three hours and 30 minutes, or two hours and 30 minutes to win the game, you don’t care. You just want to win. So I just think there are different parts of the game that have nuance and are timeless. You go and play the game, and I kind of like that.”

Zach Eflin (right knee bruise) is scheduled to pitch two innings at triple-A Lehigh Valley on Friday night. ... Zack Wheeler (right forearm tendinitis) threw out to 120 feet on Friday and felt “great,” according to Thomson. He will throw a light bullpen session on Saturday. Thomson said it’s possible Wheeler rejoins the team during this upcoming road trip to Miami and Atlanta. ... Nick Castellanos (right oblique strain) did the same workout Friday as he did on Thursday: throwing, outfield fundamentals, running, and core exercises.