Phillies call up Bishop Eustace grad Tyler Phillips, option Yunior Marte to Lehigh Valley

ATLANTA — Tyler Phillips grew up in South Jersey, played baseball at Bishop Eustace, and was raised a Phillies fan. So last year, after the end of his minor league season with the triple-A Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, he decided to go to a playoff game.

It was Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. Aaron Nola was pitching, and Phillips, to his chagrin, was running late. He’d left three hours early but hit standstill traffic on his way to the ballpark. So he did what any reasonable person would do.

“I parked at Chickie’s and Pete’s,” he said. “I was like, ‘Dude, I need to go. Here’s $150.’”

He sprinted to Citizens Bank Park and arrived in the fifth inning. The experience stuck with him.

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“The energy was just unbelievable,” Phillips said. “My arm was dead at that time, and I was like, ‘I feel like I could throw 100 mph right now.’ All I wanted to do was be out in that in that atmosphere with those guys.”

The right-handed pitcher got one step closer on Friday afternoon. He was recalled from Lehigh Valley ahead of the Phillies’ series in Atlanta. It is his first time on a big league roster. As a corresponding move, Yunior Marte was sent down to triple A, and to make room on the 40-man roster, Luis Ortiz was placed on the 60-day injured list.

Manager Rob Thomson said Phillips was called up to provide some depth. Rain is expected this weekend in Atlanta, and he doesn’t want to burn out the bullpen. But pragmatism aside, the Phillies do like Phillips.

He had a 4.89 ERA with 78 strikeouts in Lehigh Valley this year. He throws six pitches and is able to go deep into games. In 12 of his 15 starts with triple A, he threw at least six innings.

For now, the Phillies see him as a long man. Thomson would feel comfortable having Phillips go three, four, or five innings.

“He impressed me,” Thomson said. “The fastball plays. He throws about six different pitches. But it’s mainly fastball, two-seam more than four, slurve, curveball, split, he’s got a changeup too, he’s got a cutter. The first four he relies on the most.”

Phillips was drafted by the Texas Rangers in 2015, and claimed off waivers by the Phillies in 2021. He is 26 years old and has dealt with his fair share of injuries. But nevertheless, he is grateful for the path he’s taken.

He went to some games at the Vet as a kid, and was frequently at Citizens Bank Park, where he quickly became a fan of Jimmy Rollins and Scott Rolen. He also became a fan of Cole Hamels, who was traded from the Phillies to the Rangers the year Phillips was drafted.

In 2016 offseason, Phillips was at an Eagles tailgate with his assistant coach at Bishop Eustace. The coach introduced Phillips to his brother and his friends, who knew all about him.

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“They were all talking to me, hugging me, and they’re all like, ‘We love you,’” Phillips said. “We take care of Cole Hamels. I was like, ‘These guys are just drunk.’ They said they would tailgate with him. And I was like, ‘These guys are just pulling my leg. They’re messing around with me.’

“And then they’re like, ‘Cole plays for the Rangers. Let’s take a selfie and send it to him.’ I was just thinking, ‘These guys are hammered,’ and they were. They were like, ‘Let’s take a selfie.’”

Phillips forgot about it until the next year, when he was in minor league spring training with the Rangers. Hamels was in big league spring training. As he walked past the training room one day, Hamels stopped, and poked his head in the room.

“He goes, ‘Hey, I know you,’” Phillips said. “I was like, ‘No, you don’t. I just got drafted.’ He’s like, ‘No, I know you. Look at this.’ And he pulled his phone up. And there is the selfie. And he’s like, ‘I’ve had a picture of you on my phone for months, man, I was wondering who this kid was.’ And now it makes sense.

“We just kind of had this moment where we just connected over going to Eagles games and tailgates.”

They didn’t talk for very long.

“I was like 18 years old,” Phillips said. “I didn’t want to bother this legend in the middle of his workout or whatever he was doing.”

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It’s not the only wild Philadelphia sports story the right-handed pitcher has. In January 2018, he attended a tailgate ahead of the NFC Championship Game. It got out of hand.

“You know, tailgates get a little crazy,” he said. “My friends … they took a couch. Crushed it, put lighter fluid on it, lit it on fire. They were just standing there around it. It was cold night. It was the night they won the championship. It was a huge night.”

This is all to say that Phillips understands Philadelphia fandom better than most players. And now he gets to experience it in a whole new way.

“I think I make it pretty known to the world that the Phillies mean everything to me,” he said. “Being able to debut and be here with this squad … I don’t even know what I’m feeling right now. I don’t know what’s going on my body. Can’t feel my arms, can’t feel my legs. Still trying to get a feel for at all. I don’t think it’s set in yet.”

Thomson said that he would be surprised if Kyle Schwarber (left groin strain) is not activated on Tuesday. Schwarber is expected to run the bases on Saturday. Thomson added that Bryce Harper (left hamstring strain) isn’t far behind him.