Phillies’ Zach Eflin makes successful return, could be ‘Swiss Army knife’ down the stretch

MIAMI — Now that Zach Eflin has successfully made his long-awaited return to the mound for the Phillies, maybe he should turn his attention to other athletic pursuits.

“I feel better than I ever have, honestly,” Eflin said. “I feel like I can go out and run routes.”

OK, so A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith need not feel threatened. But Eflin’s optimism after a no muss, no fuss eighth inning in Wednesday night’s 6-1 victory in Miami was striking, especially considering his protracted ordeal with knee pain and the improbability surrounding his latest comeback.

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You know the story by now. Eflin had surgery on both knees in 2016. He had the patellar tendon in his right knee repaired again last year. He bruised his kneecap in June, which led to patellofemoral pain syndrome. A two-start absence turned into two months. There were days, as recently as last month, when Eflin doubted he would pitch again this season. The Phillies weren’t counting on it.

But 81 nights after his last major league start, Eflin came out of the Phillies’ bullpen and retired three Marlins batters on 11 pitches. And now, team officials are talking with straight faces about the possibility that the 28-year-old right-hander could be their pitching X factor in the season’s final 20 games and beyond.

“I see him as sort of a Swiss Army knife,” interim manager Rob Thomson said, echoing a description used by catcher J.T. Realmuto. “He can open for somebody; he can give you a little bit of length in the middle of the game; and he’s not afraid, so if one or two of our late-inning guys are down, I’d have no problem using him.”

Let’s pump the brakes for a moment.

Eflin’s return consisted of getting Jon Berti to ground out to second base and Miguel Rojas to pop out before he froze Brian Anderson on a third-strike sinker that registered 94 mph, topping his 92.6 mph season average. It was encouraging, to be sure.

“I’d like [the velocity] to be a little better, but I’m completely fine with where I’m at right now and how all my stuff is moving,” Eflin said. “Taking three months off and then doing that, I feel like I’m at a good spot.”

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But there will be other tests. Eflin is pitching with a knee brace that both he and Thomson say is meant for “support,” not to blunt any pain. What happens, though, when he has to bounce off the mound to field a bunt or tapper in front of home plate? It was, after all, a twisting of his knee on a barehanded grab of a chopper to the left of the mound on June 9 in Milwaukee that triggered the latest injury in the first place.

Thomson also plans to ease Eflin into a reliever role that is unfamiliar to him after seven years as a major league starter. At the outset, that means ample time to warm up and probably coming into innings in which there aren’t runners on base. It will be more challenging to find controlled situations for Eflin in the playoffs. Eventually, he will likely be pressed into higher-stress spots.

» READ MORE: Aaron Nola has seen it all with the Phillies — except the playoffs. And he wants in on the fun.

But those are all topics for another day. Maybe as the Phillies chart a course for how to configure their rotation and bullpen for the best-of-three wild-card series. Surely before they set their playoff roster for the first round.

For now, listen to Eflin describe what it meant to erase all of the self-doubt of the last 11 weeks.

“There was a lot of uncertainty,” he said. “It was a pretty rough three months for me, just not knowing and not being able to feel right to pitch. I finally found myself in a position to pitch about a week ago, and here we are. I’m just happy I was able to get in there and get my feet wet again and look forward to getting back in there.”

And here’s Realmuto on how happy Eflin’s teammates were to see him back on the mound.

“I was proud of the way he went out there and did what we expect him to do,” the catcher said. “He threw the ball great, looked sharp, and was able to throw everything for a strike, get ahead of guys. Pretty much everything you can ask for in a return.”

Eflin isn’t a homegrown Phillie, but he might as well be. He got traded here — for Jimmy Rollins, no less — in December 2014 in a deal that presaged a rebuilding project that began in earnest in 2015. He made his major league debut for the Phillies in 2016. Of the current players, only Aaron Nola has been on the team’s active major league roster longer than Eflin.

It’s not clear what Eflin’s future holds. He and the Phillies share a $15 million mutual option for next season. If Eflin pitches well down the stretch, maybe the Phillies will agree to pick it up. Maybe they will decline it and try to re-sign him for less. Maybe he’ll get a better offer elsewhere.

» READ MORE: Who’s the Phillies’ MVP? J.T. Realmuto heads the list, but there are other worthy choices

For now, though, Eflin can help the Phillies clinch a playoff spot. He’s been here long enough to understand what that would mean to an organization that hasn’t reached the postseason since 2011, the longest active drought among National League teams.

It’s all that really matters to him now.

“That’s all you can dream of, right?” Eflin said. “You grow up as a kid dreaming of situations like that. I’m perfectly ready for any of those opportunities and situations. I’m one of those guys where I don’t really feel anything out there. Not necessarily black out, but I don’t really have emotion out there. My heart’s not racing out of my chest. I feel like I can pitch in big moments. However they want to use me, I’m all in.”