Brett Oberholtzer, a Philly-style ‘grinder,' happy to be home

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Every player has a different reaction when he gets that phone call telling him he’s been traded.

For some, it’s a shock and a disappointment to leave one team and head to another.

For some, it’s a welcome change, a new horizon to conquer.

For others, like Brett Oberholtzer, it’s the realization of a dream.

Oberholtzer will be the first to tell you he got a little excited when his phone rang in December and he learned that he’d been traded to the Phillies. As much as the 26-year-old lefty had enjoyed his three seasons with the Houston Astros, going to the Phillies meant he was going home.

“I grew up a Phillies fan and went to games at the Vet and the Bank with my dad, so getting that call was a great moment,” he said.

Oberholtzer hails from New Castle, Delaware, a half hour south of Philadelphia. He’s a huge Eagles fan and, even as a young professional baseball player in the Braves and Astros systems, kept tabs on the Phillies. In fact, shortly after his first season in the minors ended, he and some friends attended the Phillies World Series championship parade in October 2008.

“Don’t tell anyone from the Braves,” he said with a laugh after a recent throwing session at the Maplezone Sports Institute in Delaware County. “It was a great time. I remember seeing Pat Burrell and Jimmy Rollins and how happy everyone was.”

The Braves traded Oberholtzer to the Astros as part of the package for outfielder Michael Bourn in July 2011. Oberholtzer debuted in Houston during the 2013 season. He has spent part of the last three seasons in the majors, making 42 starts for a team that went from a rebuild to the postseason in that span. He has recorded a 3.94 ERA in 45 career games.

Oberholtzer joins another rebuilding club in Philadelphia. He was one of five starting pitchers that the Phils picked up for closer Ken Giles and teenage shortstop Jonathan Arauz in a deal that general manager Matt Klentak called “an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.”

Though right-handers Vincent Velasquez and Mark Appel were the headliners in the Phillies’ haul, Oberholtzer was an important part of the deal.

“This is a guy who has made 42 starts and thrown 250 innings with a sub-4.00 ERA in his major-league career while pitching in a hitters’ park,” Klentak said. “We’re very happy to have him.”

A month before spring training, Oberholtzer’s role is uncertain. The Phillies acquired veterans Jeremy Hellickson and Charlie Morton earlier this offseason and both will be in the starting rotation. Aaron Nola and Jerad Eickhoff, both impressive as rookies in 2015, look like locks, as well. Oberholtzer could end up competing with Velasquez for the fifth spot in the rotation. He could also open the season in the bullpen while waiting for a chance to start. Let’s face it, no team gets through a season with five starters. Oberholtzer is out of minor-league options so the Phils would risk losing him to another club if they tried to send him to the minors.

“I prefer starting but I’m versatile enough to do either,” he said. “I’m just looking forward to the opportunity to get out there in camp and show what I can do.

“There will be a lot of competition, but there was competition with the Astros — ahead of me and behind me — and that made me stronger.”

Oberholtzer will be ready for camp. He has already thrown a few bullpen sessions. He also does yoga several times a week.

“It translates well to the things I do on the mound,” he said. “Flexibility, staying strong, recovery and having a feel over my whole body so I’m able to repeat my delivery. It really helps.”

Oberholtzer is 6-1, 245 pounds. He has broad shoulders and strong legs. The book on him is that he’s a hard-nosed guy and he’s got a build to match.

The pitcher’s hard-nosed nature came out in a start against the Yankees last June 27. He gave up a grand slam in the first inning and a homer in the second before coming in tight on Alex Rodriguez. The pitch did not hit Rodriguez, but Oberholtzer was ejected without protest and sent to Triple A shortly after that.

“It was just a thing where I’m a young guy and sometimes pitching at the highest level all athletes show some emotion,” he said. “Sometimes it’s for the greater good and sometimes it isn’t for the best. I think in that situation it wasn’t for the best, but I learned from it. I've moved on and I go from there.”

While Oberholtzer regrets the pitch that got away, he does not regret pitching with some edge.

“I think you have to have some of that on your sleeve to compete at the highest level against guys from all over the world who train day in and day out,” he said.

That edge might play well in Philadelphia.

“I take my career one day at a time, one brick at a time and at the end of the day the house will be built,” he said. “But the way I look at this situation, pitching at home in front of fans who love guys that go out there and grind — I think I fit pretty good with the Phillies.”

Oberholtzer has a good example of a grinder right in his own family. His father, Fred, survived leukemia when Brett was in high school. Fred Oberholtzer is a corrections officer in Delaware and a big inspiration to his son.

“He’s a strong, driven man who has encouraged me throughout my career,” Brett said. “To be able to put everything together to defeat something that could take your life puts a lot of things in perspective. It makes you realize baseball is fun. This is a game and you have to enjoy it.”

So Brett Oberholtzer is enjoying being a Phillie. He has since the phone rang and he got the news in December.

“That phone call was a moment to put in the memory bank and say I’m a Philadelphia Phillie,” he said. “But now it’s all business. I have to go out there and show what I’m capable of. I’m looking forward to the opportunity.”

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