Phillies acquire Vinny Nittoli from Blue Jays to bolster bullpen depth

PHOENIX — The Phillies acquired right-handed pitcher Vinny Nittoli from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for minor league catcher Karl Ellison, the team announced Wednesday.

Nittoli, 31, has experience out of the bullpen and as a starter. He has just one game’s worth of big-league experience — on June 23, 2021, with Seattle — but has had success in triple A in 2022 in the Blue Jays’ and Yankees’ systems, posting a 3.30 ERA with 59 strikeouts and 14 walks in 46⅓ innings.

“He’s got a deceptive delivery, he’s got probably a tick below average fastball as far as velocity is concerned, but he’s really — his slider has improved a great deal,” said Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. “He’s throwing a very great breaking ball.”

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Dombrowski said he knew that there were a lot of clubs that were interested in Nittoli, which is why the Phillies made a trade instead of waiting for him to opt out of his minor league deal. Nittoli will join the Phillies in San Francisco over the next few days.

“Well, [our pitching depth] is not as deep as what we were,” Dombrowski said. “I always look at pitching depth as you never have enough of it. Because you never know what’s around the next corner. And we still have 30-plus games left. We can use — we feel comfortable using some of the guys down there [in the minor leagues], by all means, but if we can get better that’s why we go ahead and make a trade like this.”

With Seranthony Domínguez on the 15-day injured list, Corey Knebel out for the season, Zach Eflin likely to return as a bullpen piece, and Zack Wheeler on the 15-day injured list, the Phillies have been thin on pitching. Nittoli will provide some bullpen depth as the Phillies try to weather the absence of Domínguez and Knebel.

Nittoli had a 2.79 ERA in 10 games with the Blue Jays’ triple-A affiliate in Buffalo. Of the 37 batters he faced, he struck out 40.5% and walked only one. He has a 32.1% strikeout rate and a 7.6% walk rate in triple A this season. He was drafted in the 25th round by the Mariners in 2014 out of Xavier University.

Ellison was signed by the Phillies as a minor league free agent in March. He split this season between high-A Jersey Shore and triple-A Lehigh Valley, hitting .123/.235/.192 between those levels.

ESPN reported that the Phillies plan to add Nittoli to their big-league roster on Thursday, when rosters expand to 28 players. Because Nittoli was not on the Blue Jays’ big-league roster, he was able to be traded after the Aug. 2 trade deadline. Assuming the Phillies add Nittoli to their 28-man roster as expected, he would be eligible to pitch in the postseason.

The Phillies are saying Nick Castellanos could return on Friday. The right fielder has sat out the past few games with turf toe. He’s going to do a pregame workout on Wednesday. ... Zach Eflin (right knee bruise) came out of his bullpen on Tuesday well. The Phillies are thinking of having him throw another bullpen in San Francisco. ... Zack Wheeler (forearm tendinitis) will throw a bullpen in San Francisco. He got out to 90-120 feet on Wednesday. As of now, he is still on track to make a start on Sept. 6.