Phillies promote pitching prospect Griff McGarry to triple A

The move signals a potential increase in the likelihood that the Phillies will bring him to the big leagues to aid with their playoff push.

Phillies pitching prospect Griff McGarry had experience as a starter and reliever at Virginia.Read moreSean Rayford / AP

by Scott Lauber

Published Sept. 5, 2022, 12:26 p.m. ET

Griff McGarry is one phone call from joining the Phillies.

Less than a week after shifting to a relief role in double A to gauge his viability as a late-season bullpen option in the majors, McGarry is being promoted to triple-A Lehigh Valley, the Phillies announced Monday via their player-development Twitter account.

The move signals a potential increase in the likelihood that the Phillies will bring the hard-throwing 23-year-old right-hander to the big leagues to aid with the push to lock up their first playoff berth since 2011.

“Griff has continued to check all the boxes that we’ve asked him to check,” farm director Preston Mattingly said by phone. “In regards to him moving to the bullpen, it’s exposing him to some different roles while also keeping control of his innings.”

McGarry, a fifth-round draft pick last year out of the University of Virginia, has a 3.18 ERA in 79⅓ innings this season. He’s the oldest of the Phillies’ big three pitching prospects. But unlike Andrew Painter and Mick Abel, there’s a path for him to reach the majors this season because the bullpen ranks have been thinned by injuries to Seranthony Domínguez and Corey Knebel.

The issue with McGarry has long been his command. In four years at Virginia, he had a 20.7% walk rate, even getting moved to the bullpen to help harness his command. But he has cut his walk rate to 13.5% this year at high-A Jersey Shore and double-A Reading.

Before McGarry made his first relief appearance on Friday night in Hartford, Conn., Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson said the team wanted to get a look at him “just as an option.”

It was a good first impression.

McGarry struck out four batters in two hitless innings, including a nine-pitch whiff of Colorado Rockies top prospect Zac Veen. His velocity remained in the upper 90s, and he threw 24 of 36 pitches for strikes.

“He looked great,” Mattingly said. “Griff’s looked good all year. I think for him it’s more just continuing to control his emotions. He’s a very competitive kid who wants to come on the attack. His stuff was really good. I think the strikes were good enough. He’s one of these guys where, if he gets ahead in the count, we feel really comfortable with what’s going to happen going forward.”

Mattingly said the Phillies will continue to use McGarry in multiple-inning stints at Lehigh Valley. Considering Phillies starters have completed six innings in only seven of the last 17 games, McGarry could help bridge the gap to the late-inning crew.

One potential scenario: With Ranger Suárez hitting a wall in the fourth inning of his last two starts, and with his innings total (127⅓) nearing his career high, the Phillies could use McGarry behind him. As a hard-throwing right-hander, he would figure to be a different look from Suárez, a lefty sinkerballer.

McGarry’s familiarity with coming out of the bullpen may influence the Phillies’ decision. Last year, he struck out the side in the ninth inning to close out Virginia’s combined no-hitter against Wake Forest.

“When you’ve done something before, it makes it a little bit easier to transition back,” Mattingly said. “He pitched out of the bullpen some in college, at a very high level, too. Big-time atmospheres. It wouldn’t be a hard transition to come from starter back to the ‘pen because it’s something he’s comfortable with, having done it in college.”

It also wouldn’t be unprecedented for the Phillies to bring up a young pitcher in the middle of a playoff push. In 1980, they famously summoned Marty Bystrom, who made his major league debut on Sept. 7 and went 5-0 with a 1.50 ERA in six games.

Could McGarry be the next Bystrom?

“I don’t think we have like a set here’s-the-plan, he has to do this, this, and this before he takes the next step into the end of the season,” Mattingly said. “I think we’ll look at it day to day and outing to outing.”