Looking to add depth to a bullpen that’s been hit hard by injuries this season, the Phillies signed Aaron Heilman to a minor league contract on Thursday, CSNPhilly’s Jim Salisbury reports. He’ll step into a Triple-A Lehigh Valley relief corps that just lost Jason Grilli to the Pirates.
Heilman was cut by the Diamondbacks after amassing a 6.81 ERA in 35 1/3 innings this season. The stats, however, say he wasn’t nearly that bad. He had 33 strikeouts versus just 11 walks, but he was doomed by giving up eight homers, which is twice as many as one would have expected based on his career rate.
Heilman’s velocity is down a bit this year, but he’s continued to get plenty of swings and misses. He’s still a decent enough bet as a sixth- and seventh-inning guy, and the Phillies might want to go ahead and release Danys Baez to make room for him after he gets a few innings under his belt.