Spring Training Game 24 - 2021 Donruss #173 Bryce Harper

Phillies 13, Yankees 12
Spring Training Game 24 - Thursday Night, March 25th in Clearwater
Record - 11-12-1

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies prevailed in a slugfest against the Yankees in Clearwater, winning on a walk-off single from outfield prospect Johan Rojas.

What It Means:  There are only four more spring training games before the start of the regular season on Thursday afternoon, weather permitting.

What Happened:  Matt Moore looked shaky in this outing, allowing 5 runs on 6 hits over 3 2/3 innings.  He allowed long home runs to Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres.  Jose Alvarado had his first rough outing of the spring, throwing three balls to the backstop and walking three before Joe Girardi mercifully ended to reliever's wild night.  And Enyel De Los Santos, who had also been solid all spring, got lit up for 6 runs in the ninth.  On the offensive side of things, Bryce Harper, J.T. Realmuto, Jean Segura and Rojas all had multi-hit games.  Didi Gregorius and Logan O'Hoppe both connected with three-run home runs.

Featured Card:  I had wanted to go with a Rojas card for this post, but I have yet to add any of his cards to my Phillies collection.  To date, he's only appeared on a few 2020 Panini releases.  I tend to generally stay away from the unlicensed Panini releases, but I do try to add a Donruss team set to my collection every year.  The 2021 Phillies team set arrived in my mailbox yesterday, and included two versions of Harper's card - this running version and another version with Harper at the plate.

2021 Chachi Almost #2

2021 Chachi Almost #3

Camp Head Count:  57 - 2 = 55.  Veteran pitchers Hector Rondon (rhp) and Ivan Nova (rhp) both requested and were granted their releases yesterday afternoon.  Nova was a contender for the 5th or 6th starting pitcher spot, but with Zach Eflin apparently ready to go, his services were most likely no longer needed.  He went 0-2 with a 7.30 ERA over 5 games and 12 1/3 innings pitched.  Rondon made it into 8 games and had an ERA of 7.71 over 7 innings pitched.

2021 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2021 Chachi Set Checklist

Second Quartet of Non-Roster Invitees Announced

2015 Topps #382

2015 Topps #412

2017 Topps Chrome Rookie Autographs #RA-DP

2015 Topps #224

Unbelievably, we're less than two weeks away from the start of spring training and the Phillies are picking up the pace in terms of their off-season additions.

Pitcher Ivan Nova was signed to a minor league contract on the same day as the J.T. Realmuto signing was announced, so his addition to the list of non-roster pitchers may have flown under the radar.  An 11-year veteran, Nova is best known for his years with the Yankees (2010-2016) and he appeared in 4 games last season with the Tigers.  He's been a starter most of his career and actually led the American League in games started in 2019 with 34.  He'll either find himself as the team's fifth or sixth starter or provide Triple-A depth in Lehigh Valley.

The next three pitchers showed up on the team's transaction page over the past few weeks, but their signings were made official on Tuesday.  Bryan Mitchell last pitched in the majors in 2018 with the Padres, and he's also a former Yankee, having appeared in 48 games with the club between 2014 and 2017.  David Paulino has pitched in 16 major league games with the Astros and Blue Jays between 2016 and 2018.  And finally, Hector Rondon got an invite and the hope is that he's in the mix for one of the open bullpen spots.  Rondon has 92 career saves to his name and won a World Series ring with the Cubs in 2016.  He appeared in 23 games last season for the Diamondbacks.

Player (position) - 2020 Organization - Last Major Baseball Card Appearance

1.  Christian Bethancourt (c) - N/A - 2017 Topps #697 (Padres)

2.  Ronald Torreyes (inf) - Phillies - 2019 Topps #537 (Twins)

3.  Michael Ynoa (rhp) - N/A - 2016 Topps Heritage High Numbers #632 (White Sox)

4.  Neftali Feliz (rhp) - N/A - 2017 Topps Update #US117 (Royals)

5.  Ivan Nova (rhp) - Tigers - 2020 Topps Heritage #704 (Tigers)

6.  Bryan Mitchell (rhp) - White Sox - 2015 Topps #224 (Yankees)

7.  David Paulino (rhp) - N/A - 2018 Donruss Promising Pros Materials #PPM-DP (Astros)

8.  Hector Rondon (rhp) - Diamondbacks - 2020 Topps Total #600 (Diamondbacks)