Phillies to call up Seth Johnson to start Sunday against the Marlins

Acquired from the Orioles in the Gregory Soto trade, Johnson has a 0.56 ERA in 16 innings at triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Seth Johnson posted a 0.56 ERA across 16 innings with 13 strikeouts and six walks at triple-A Lehigh Valley.Read moreGerald Herbert / AP

Published Sept. 5, 2024, 5:57 p.m. ET

MIAMI — Seth Johnson will make his major league debut Sunday when the Phillies call him up to start the finale of a series against the Marlins.

But it won’t be a typical debut.

“It’s a little bit unusual,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Thursday, “to call a guy up before you see him pitch in person.”

The Phillies acquired Johnson, along with fellow righty Moisés Chace, only five weeks ago from the Orioles in a deadline trade for lefty reliever Gregory Soto. Johnson made two starts for double-A Reading before being moved up to triple-A Lehigh Valley. He has allowed one run in 16 innings in triple A.

Johnson will take the No. 5 starter spot vacated first by the struggling Taijuan Walker, who was moved to the bullpen, and this week by Tyler Phillips, who yielded six runs and didn’t get out of the first inning Tuesday night in Toronto. Phillips has a 7.44 ERA in seven major-league starts over two call-ups.

It’s unclear if Johnson will make more than one start for the Phillies. He’s two years removed from Tommy John surgery and has thrown 88⅔ innings this season, which is close to his career high (93⅔ innings in 2021). He converted to pitching in college in 2019 after playing shortstop and second base.

Further, lefty Kolby Allard is eligible to be recalled Tuesday from his latest option to triple A. It’s possible he could claim the No. 5 spot in the rotation through the end of the regular season. Barring injury to Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Ranger Suárez, or Cristopher Sánchez, the Phillies won’t need a fifth starter in the postseason.

Johnson is expected to join the Phillies on Saturday but won’t be placed on the active roster until Sunday.

Manager Rob Thomson hasn’t gotten a live look at Johnson, either, but said the reports from the staffs at Reading and Lehigh Valley were “very good,” and cited a four-pitch mix and a fastball that ranges from 94 to 96 mph.

“He’s thrown strikes both at double A and triple A,” Thomson said. “I think we’re really happy with what we got.”

Johnson was the 40th overall pick in the 2019 draft by the Rays, when Phillies assistant GM Ani Kilambi was part of Tampa Bay’s front office. He has a 2.33 ERA across three minor league teams this season, including a 1.52 mark with the Phillies.

Phillies minor league pitching coordinator Travis Hergert recently broke down Johnson’s repertoire, including a cutter and a “true curveball” that he uses early in the count against lefties. Johnson also throws a splitter, which he added in spring training with the Orioles. He dialed down the velocity on it and reduced the spin, to create more separation between the splitter and some of his other pitches. Hergert said Johnson has made progress with the pitch.

Hergert said Johnson’s biggest focus right now is putting away hitters with two strikes.

“His situation is a little different because he gets to two strikes quickly,” Hergert said. “Something we talked about a couple weeks ago with him is just being able to put guys away early with two strikes and sort of limit the pitch counts. His pitch counts get elevated a little bit, some longer at-bats, and maybe he’s not able to go as deep into games.

“That’s probably our biggest focus: being able to trim away some of the workload and shortening some of the at-bats. Maybe it’s more early-count strikes. Maybe it’s a little early-count weak contact. We can end some of those at-bats sooner. And then we’re talking about possibly going into the sixth and maybe the seventh at some point.”