Back when the Philadelphia Phillies traded Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners in 2009, they got several top prospects in return. They will be calling up one of them – right-handed relief pitcher Phillippe Aumont for tomorrow night’s game.
Lefty reliever Jeremy Horst (1-0, 1.06 ERA, 2.86 strikeout to walk ratio) will be gone for a few days on paternity leave, which gives Aumont the opportunity to see a little big league action. Aumont is a 6’7” reliever who was ranked among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects three straight years before the 2008, 2009, and 2010 seasons. He has stalled since then and still hasn’t reached the major leagues, but Aumont has a lot of potential.
He throws a fastball in the upper nineties and a hard slider, and he’s striking out 12.0 batters per nine innings in Triple-A Lehigh Valley. Aumont is 3-1 with a 4.26 ERA but his high percentage of strikeouts shows he can be flat out overpowering. He does struggle with his control way too much (6.9 walks per nine innings in Triple-A), to the point where it’s almost scary. But he should learn to harness that as he matures more, and the major league experience will be good for him.
The Phillies expect Aumont to be a big part of their bullpen in the future. The 2013 bullpen could very well feature Aumont playing a prominent role out of the ‘pen, along with players like Michael Schwimer, Justin De Fratus, B.J. Rosenberg, and even Justin Friend.
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