Rosters expanded Sunday and the Phillies began September by adding four players to their active roster: catcher Deivy Grullon, utilityman Phil Gosselin, right-handed reliever Nick Vincent and lefty Cole Irvin.
The Phils also activated Jay Bruce from the injured list in a pinch-hitting role.
More moves will follow this week. Nick Pivetta and Jose Pirela will likely join the club Tuesday in Cincinnati and Maikel Franco on Sept. 5 when he is eligible to return from the minors. Nick Williams should rejoin the Phillies sometime this week as well.
Grullon is the most interesting name of the four coming up. He’s a 23-year-old catcher who had a strong offensive season at Triple A, hitting .283/.354/.496 with 21 home runs and 77 RBI for the IronPigs. Grullon went unprotected in last winter’s Rule 5 draft but went unclaimed and then had his best minor-league season to date.
The additions of Grullon and Gosselin give the Phillies two more right-handed pinch-hit options. Gosselin had been productive at Triple A, hitting .314 with a .901 OPS.
Vincent has eight years of major-league experience with the Padres, Mariners and Giants. He had a 3.17 career ERA in 352 appearances entering this season, which was a struggle for him before he was released by the Giants. At Lehigh Valley, Vincent had a 1.46 ERA in 10 games.
Irvin will likely pitch in middle relief or be used to face a lefty, ideally in a lower leverage situation.
MLB
Of the four, only Irvin was on the Phillies’ 40-man roster. To make room on the 40 for Grullon, Vincent and Gosselin, the Phillies designated Drew Anderson for assignment and moved Adam Morgan and Jerad Eickhoff to the 60-day IL.
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