PHILADELPHIA — Connor Brogdon was at his locker with a few days to go in spring training when Mike Calitri, the Phillies bench coach, put his hand on the reliever’s back. They wanted to see him in the manager’s office. Brogdon, a lanky righty with a good changeup, shuffled down the hallway. He has always wrestled with a lack of self-confidence — something he has openly admitted — and he knew he had not pitched well this spring.
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He made the team.
Brogdon returned to his locker and sat there for a moment. He changed out of his shorts and into pinstripe pants because it was time to play catch. He had a job. This did not feel like something he should celebrate; Brogdon, in his mind, had not earned it.
He had to prove something.
“Every day I feel like I’m right there,” Brogdon said Monday night. “And I felt like I was right there today.”
It’s unfair to suggest the Phillies lost 6-3 to the Cincinnati Reds because of Brogdon. The Phillies scored two runs in the first inning, then none in the next eight. Johan Rojas pinch ran for Kyle Schwarber in the eighth inning and was promptly picked off. Rob Thomson aggressively managed his bullpen, expecting a rainout Tuesday, but that left him with only Brogdon or Nick Nelson for the 10th inning.
Brogdon walked two hitters, then surrendered a grand slam on a 92 mph fastball. As soon as he heard the crack of the bat, Brogdon put his hands on his knees.
It’s difficult to watch someone lose their job in real-time because, in all likelihood, Brogdon threw his last pitch for the Phillies on Monday night. He made the team only because of injuries to Taijuan Walker and Orion Kerkering. He was out of minor-league options. The Phillies hoped the 29-year-old pitcher could recapture his form with an adrenaline bump in the regular season.
He was the last man in the bullpen, a role that often should not be scrutinized. Brogdon’s job was to enter the lowest-leverage situations and throw strikes. He could not do that over the weekend against the Atlanta Braves.
And, then, the game found him Monday night.
“I mean, I don’t even know how many balls I’d thrown in a row before I showed him a strike,” Brogdon said. “So, at that point, I was just like, ‘Man, just throw the ball in the zone.’ Yeah. I mean, you just can’t leave a ball there to a big-league hitter. He’s going to hit it out.”
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Brogdon answered question after question and, as he did so, Dave Dombrowski and Sam Fuld took an elevator downstairs. The two Phillies executives needed to talk to Thomson and his pitching coaches. Brogdon was holding a place for Kerkering, who is expected to return April 9 and departed Monday for a brief trip to the Florida State League so he can pitch somewhere where it won’t rain.
Kerkering is the club’s latest homegrown bullpen hope. But, once upon a time, Brogdon was that. He fell into academic trouble at a junior college in California, then transferred to a tiny place in Lewiston, Idaho, called Lewis-Clark State College. A Phillies amateur scout saw Brogdon as a starter there and admired his potential, even with a sharp drop in velocity. The scout, Hilton Richardson, thought Brogdon could be a reliever.
The Phillies drafted Brogdon in the 10th round in 2017. He signed for $5,000 and five years later, he pitched in the World Series. He struck out seven of the 14 batters he faced. He blew an elevated 96 mph fastball past Yordan Alvarez. He was invincible.
“I just feel like,” Brogdon said, “it’s just been kind of a constant journey of trying to find the right stuff mechanically.”
He has not been right for months. Almost a year, really. The Phillies demoted Brogdon to the minors last June and he never returned. He toiled at Triple A as the Phillies raced to another postseason without him. He became a father after the season. He came to spring training knowing his future was unsettled.
He walked off the mound on Monday at 9:30 p.m. ET to a chorus of boos.
The Phillies, like most teams, treat April baseball differently than every other month. The games are managed with care. This strategy has benefited the Phillies in each of the past two seasons; their pitchers have reached a different gear in October. They have stayed healthy, for the most part. It comes with a short-term cost: The Phillies will not pull every possible lever to win games in April. A manager once tried that in Philadelphia and alienated all of his relievers within the first two weeks of the season.
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Thomson could have pushed Cristopher Sánchez past 85 pitches or used one of his best relievers for more than one inning, or had Seranthony Domínguez and Gregory Soto pitch for a third consecutive day.
“If we’re in July or August, sure,” Thomson said. “This early, I’m not going to take a chance.”
He didn’t.
“We’re trying to stay away from those guys as much as we could,” Thomson said. “But you have to try and win the ballgame at the same time. If it’s later in the year, you don’t really think too much about it. Early in the year, it’s on your mind.”
This is why the most aggressive — and deepest organizations — churn through one or two bullpen spots in April. The Los Angeles Dodgers purchased Nabil Crismatt’s contract on Sunday, pitched him in a game, then designated him for assignment so they could purchase Dinelson Lamet’s contract. The New York Yankees designated two relievers for assignment in the past two days and made a small trade to acquire another.
The Phillies were afraid to risk losing depth because they have not developed relievers. Brogdon is the only draft pick in the current bullpen. They signed Domínguez as an amateur free agent. Everyone else was acquired by free agency or trade.
Luis Ortiz, a pitcher the Phillies were counting on in April, sprained his ankle over the weekend. There are relievers at Triple A who could help — José Ruiz, Ryan Burr, Andrew Bellatti, Michael Mercado — and maybe one of them replaces Brogdon.
It will just be another transaction. It does not dull the anguish of watching Brogdon spiral from a trusted reliever to this.
“There are pitches where I’m thinking of every step I go through in my entire delivery,” Brogdon said. “Yeah, I’m just kind of scrambled out there right now.”
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(Top photo: Rich Schultz / Getty Images)
