Noah Song hasn’t pitched in three years, but the Phillies think his talent is worth the gamble

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A few months ago, Noah Song was sitting in his room at his rental house in Jacksonville, Fla., when he got a text from Bobby Applegate, his former pitching coach at the Naval Academy.

“Rule 5 draft?” Applegate asked.

“Who got picked?” Song asked.

“You did,” Applegate replied.

Song was surprised. Very surprised. He’d heard about the Rule 5 draft, but didn’t know much about how it worked, and certainly wasn’t expecting to get picked. His agent wasn’t expecting it, either. He’d asked her whether there was a chance he might get selected, and she told him not to worry about it.

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So he didn’t. Song, a 25-year-old right-hander who was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 2019, had moved on anyway. When the Phillies called his name on Dec. 7, he hadn’t thrown off a mound since Aug. 20, 2019, when he struck out two batters and allowed four hits, one earned run and one walk in three innings for the low-A Lowell Spinners.

Over those three years, three months and 17 days, he went to flight school. He got his wings and became a naval flight officer. He received a promotion to lieutenant junior grade. At the time of his Rule 5 selection, he was working at a fleet replacement squadron in Jacksonville, training on a P-8 Poseidon aircraft, and preparing for a deployment to Japan.

And then, all of a sudden, everything changed. The Phillies, a team that Song knew little about, called his name. He quickly did some cursory research on them, and to his delight, he found out that they did “really well last year.”

A few weeks after that, Song’s petition to transfer from active status to reserve status was approved, allowing him to serve 12 years in the selective reserves — for one weekend a month, and two weeks a year — as opposed to six years full-time.

The dream that he thought was slipping away was finally back in focus.

“As every year passed, a major league experience got further and further from reality,” Song said. “Coming back to baseball was something I’d always hoped, but at the same time, I was very happy, I enjoyed my time in the Navy a lot. I really can’t complain one way or another.”

Song concedes that he is lucky. He has been able to fulfill both of his “Plan A” careers, as he calls them. But while he was fulfilling one, with the Navy, he was loosely keeping the other alive. Song played catch on occasion with a friend in Jacksonville, at a local rec ball field. It wouldn’t get him game-ready, but it would keep him in shape.

After he heard that his petition was approved last week, he threw a bullpen session with a local high school team in Jacksonville. It was the first time he’d thrown off a mound since 2019.

“It felt rough,” Song said. “It felt like I was trying to walk again. Trying to learn new things. But as far as expectations go, just trying to manage expectations, really. I don’t really know what my future or ceiling might be. But just trying to figure out what it is, what the new one is, I guess.”

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No one has an answer to that question, because what Song is attempting to do has not been done before. He has five weeks to get back in playing shape, and figure out what that ceiling is, and the Phillies have five weeks to decide whether to put him on their 40-man and 26-man roster. Because Song is on the military list, he doesn’t count against the 40-man right now.

If the Phillies decide to carry Song on their roster, they can’t option him down to the minor leagues. To move him, they’d have to put him on waivers, and if he clears waivers, they can offer him back to Boston. If he makes it through a full season, he can be optioned starting next season.

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“The reality is it’s a gamble,” said Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. “That’s what it is. I do not know when he picks up a ball and he starts throwing off the mound and puts something into it, once his arm is in good enough shape, I don’t know if he’s going throw 85 or 95. But we think it’s worth the risk.”

For Dombrowski, it’s worth the risk because Song is a potential “top-of-the-rotation type pitcher” and/or “star major leaguer.” Players like that don’t normally go unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. Dombrowski was in the draft room with the Red Sox in 2019 when Song was selected. He remembers thinking Song was one of the top collegiate pitchers in the country but fell to the fourth round of the draft because of his military commitment.

Song posted a 2.37 ERA in 58 games with 428 strikeouts over his four-year career with the Naval Academy. Over that span, he threw 14 complete games, nine of them shutouts. He pitched to a 1.06 ERA in low-A Lowell in 2019 with 19 strikeouts over seven starts and 17 innings. Before his three-year hiatus, he threw in the 96-99 mph range, with four pitches: a fastball, a slider, a changeup and a curveball.

“For us, the [Rule 5] draft price is $100,000, and if we return him [to the Red Sox], it’s $50,000, so that’s not much of a risk, financially,” Dombrowski said. “He’s not counted on our roster, so we haven’t even lost a player to put him on the 40-man roster. We thought it was worth the gamble with the high upside that he could bring.”

If Song does make the Phillies’ 26-man roster, it won’t be as a starter. They won’t have enough time to stretch him out. But Dombrowski did note that there’s an open spot in the Phillies’ bullpen — and relievers do get hurt — so if Song impresses, he could find a home there. Right now, the future is uncertain. But he is quickly adjusting to his new reality.

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Before Song’s workout on Thursday, he walked into his new office. He hung some shirts up in his locker, and sat down by his new coworkers — J.T. Realmuto, Garrett Stubbs, Mark Appel, Nick Castellanos, and Scott Kingery — who peppered him with questions. He looked like he belonged.