MASSIVE Orion Kerkering Leap Incoming...

The official start of the Philadelphia Phillies season continues to inch closer and questions surround this bullpen unit. With Jeff Hoffman wearing a new uniform this year, as well as Carlos Estevez finding a new location, my brain has wondered whether there may be some higher expectations to a young promising arm already in the bullpen that we have not given enough credence to. We know the story of Ryan Kerrigan and what a key part of this bullpen unit that he has already established himself at. But in the conversation with who's next, with Aiden Miller, Andrew Painter, all these young talents within this Phillies organization, I don't think we should forget about Ryan Kerrigan just so quickly. I want to talk a little bit about what his role could be this year and why I still think he can take his game to another level in his third season at the Major League level. Now, before I dive fully into everything, I do want to make sure to remind you guys that you are hitting that subscribe button, that at this point in time, 71.8% of you guys tuning into these videos here on Phillies Digest have not subscribed to the channel just yet. So with the season right around the corner, if you like what we're doing here, we'd love to have you part of the Phillies Digest family. Now to get into the topic of today, first I want to start with a headline that inspired me to hop on the mic and talk about this, which is Philadelphia Phillies star pitcher highlighted as best young reliever in baseball. This was originally posted by the Philadelphia Phillies on Sports Illustrated by Kenneth, I believe Lee is how you pronounce his name there. And he writes the Philadelphia Phillies have nearly have the entire core of the 95 win National League East title squad from 2024 returning to the mix in 2025. Their bullpen is the only part of the roster that has undergone much of a change since Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estevez departed in free agency, signing deals with the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals. To help offset those losses, the team signed former Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano and brought in swingman Joe Ross. And just a little note on this, it is a little funny to me how kind of the Phillies and Blue Jays are sort of exchanging damaged goods here that I think the Phillies had some serious doubts about the medicals of Jeff Hoffman while he was excellent last year. We can't ignore that when you look at the larger part of his career in the production it was a bit of a flash in the pan from a production level that he had not been that caliber of pitcher at any other point in his major league experience we know kind of the story that he started out as a starting pitcher seemed to have aspirations to getting back to that and then the other side of things who the Phillies brought in Jordan Romano it feels like a similar situation from the Blue Jays viewpoint that that is a guy who was on a down year last year who has some concerns with his elbow and with his arm and the Phillies are really bouncing on or counting on a bounce back season from him so we'll be interesting to see how that plays out. I do think this is unfortunately one of those situations which whichever guy can stay a little bit healthier probably has the inside track to overperform in their contract value. But I do think the Phillies were right to have a little bit of pause about a long-term investment with Jeff Hoffman, particularly after we got the reports of the failed medicals for multiple other MLB teams. Now, to bring it back to Orion Kerkering here, to continue on to the article that writes, Romano is coming off an injury plagued 2024, but it was among the best closers in baseball the years prior something they need him to be during this upcoming campaign one player who phillies are going to be relying upon to have a more prominent role at the end of the games is Orion Kerkering turning only 24 years old in April he was a no-brainer selection by the Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Athletic subscription required for the MLB all under 25 team heading into the 2025 campaign this is the second consecutive year that Kerrigan made the cut as he was part of the 2024 squad after throwing only three innings in 2023. And that is something I wanted to reflect on briefly here. It is pretty wild, the trajectory that Ryan Kerrigan has been thrown on. Pretty unique that I really haven't seen anything like this for a prospect. When you think about his first taste of Major League Baseball, and by the way, he did not spend very long in the minors whatsoever here. They threw him up, he threw three innings in the regular season, and then they used him in the playoffs. So that was a guy they counted on. I did think that was unfair to Kerrigan to an extent. He did ultimately get hit around once in that playoffs and there was some concern in my own brain there that this could be a bad thing for his long-term development that's a pretty uh I guess you know throwing you to the wolves and having you figure them out there but shout out to Kerrigan who does seem mentally tough enough to battle through that and obviously we're seeing the production continue now to continue on with this article here do want to add up this part that writes Kerrigan made 64 appearances throwing 63.0 innings with a strong 2.29 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 2024 he was dominant as the raw stats would suggest since he also recorded a 2.42 FIP and is on the right side of all the advanced stats like average exit velocity allowed and hard hit percentage. His 1.5 F4 is among the best amongst the relief pitchers who joined him on the all under 25 team. What will Kerrigan have in store for an encore? Expect him to factor into the mix for some saves in 2025 despite not recording one yet in his career. Manager Rob Thompson doesn't use traditional roles in the bullpen playing matchups throughout the game instead and it is kind of surprising me that he hasn't doesn't have at least one save under his belt that then the cards did not align for allow that to be the case at any point last season but I don't think that's any sort of an indictment on Kirkring specifically here I do think the wider view the long term is that this guy is going to be the premier arm in this Phillies bullpen it's probably not gonna be this season probably not gonna be next season but when looking at the long term for who they're building around I do think Kirkring is that caliber of arm and if he takes another step forward this season which I would absolutely argue was the case last year if he can continue on this trajectory we could be talking about one of the brightest young relievers in all of baseball this is a player that plenty of organizations will be leaping at having the chance to bring in and the Phillies have done a really nice job keeping under wraps having him a key part and now every opportunity is in front of him now to reflect on his stats exactly for what he did produce last season once again it was just those three innings pitched during the 2023 season And then, as I mentioned, was thrown right to the Wolves in the postseason. But last year, a little bit more spread out. That was a 2.29 ERA across the 64 games that he pitched. Also started two games when they were kind of working through that weird, you know, not having a fifth starter, trying to figure things out, going with the bullpen approach for it. Shout out to Kirkring. I didn't really love it at the time. And I believe he only threw one inning in both of those starts, which I didn't, didn't make any sort of sense to me. I get, you know, there's some mental components that come with guys wanting to come out of the bullpen and stick to their normal routine. Shout out to Kirk Ring for stepping up and at least helping that. He does have some experience as a starting pitcher dating back to his days in college. We do know that his arm is best utilized at the bullpen, and I think that became pretty clear. But a couple other things that I did want to highlight here, that he did allow only 16 earned runs across those 64 games that he did pitch in there. He had logged 74 strikeouts. Pretty impressive just across the board. The advanced metrics are even more kind of impressive when you dive into things, the control. He's just an advanced pitcher for his age. This isn't a guy that I have the feel of like he has the talent and is putting it together. Last year, what impressed me the most is I saw growth in his ability as a pitcher. And what I mean by that is like working account, going at guys, that control, the approach to hitters in a way that I didn't see from the brief stint we saw from him in his rookie opportunity there. That's the key to me. That's pretty impressive. And that's something that I always have my eye on for a bullpen pitcher specifically. A guy like Jose Alvarado I'll throw out, I understand we get a wide range of what Jose Alvarado is as a pitcher. but that's not a guy that I kind of think has like a calculated approach when he's going at their hitters. He's going to throw it by you as hard as he can. If you can hit it, best of luck to you. If you can't, well, he's going to rear back and throw it again on the next pitch. That's not quite Kirk Ring, but it does feel a little more calculated that there's an approach that I do respect here. Now, when asked about it specifically for Kirk Ring, he spoke pretty glowingly about his potential opportunity and really his usage of this team. So to pull up the quote here, he said, and this initially talking about Jeff Hoffman and their contacts, since he signed his contract elsewhere. The quote is, Just go be you, Kirk Ring said when asked about Hoffman's advice, and just go have fun. He always told us he changes everything he does. He doesn't do the same routine every single day, whether he puts on his left shoe before his right shoe that day. He doesn't like the superstitions of baseball. Just keep being you because you're the reason why. We're all here for a reason, so just keep running with it. Pretty great advice from Jeff Hoffman here, and the article continues on to say, The Phillies have not used a traditional closer in recent years, although they have leaned that direction for stretches, Craig Kimbrel in 2023 and Carlos Estevez last year. If the season started today, new right-hander Jordan Romano could see early looks in the ninth inning, but so could Strom and Kirk Ring. Quote, I think it'll be super fun, Kirk Ring said. No pressure at all. It's the same three outs every time I go out there or however many outs Topper wants me to get. No matter what inning it is, I think they're all super important. I don't think it really matters too much. I do love the part about not having the superstition. It's kind of cool for Hoffman to express that. For bullpen pitchers specifically here, they can be creatures of habit. They can do some weird stuff as far as their routine. We can throw it all the way back to like Jonathan Papelbon doing whittling in the bullpen to keep his mind. And that was certainly a rare breed of human being and athlete there in Jonathan Papelbon. Not a guy that I recommend Kirk Ring, you know, aspires to be from a personality standpoint there. But my point being there that sometimes these guys can get tied in their way. And I do think Kirk Ring does have more of a laid back approach, which I do think I appreciate. And I do think is more healthy in the long run here that the bottom line is the results are results. And that's where you're going to be judged off, but being a little bit more bearable and more flexible and willing to do whatever the team needs, I think bodes well for everybody in this situation. Now, when thinking about this Phillies bullpen as a whole, there's obviously expectations for Jordan Romano. There's obviously expectations for Matt Strom, who probably is going to still be looked at as the premier arm in the bullpen, especially with him being a left-hander there. That's going to be something that's a huge part. Strom is going to earn his money this year, that he's going to have to be the guy. But I think Kirk Ring has a real chance at earning that next up arm. And frankly, as of today, until I see a little something from Jordan Romano of substance to have me believing, that is the guy that I would consider the top right-handed arm in this Phillies bullpen. We'll be very interested to see how Rob Thompson handles things. Again, we do know he's bought into not having this clear-cut closer. Even when he did trade for Estevez last year, I wouldn't label that as like a traditional closer. He certainly got more cracks at it than anybody else, but it wasn't this clear pathway to getting him there for the ninth. Now, I've expressed my feelings pretty clearly here that I like having a closer. That's something that is a little bit comforting to me to an extent, that I get the concept of you want your best pitcher for the highest leverage situation or the matchups and playing by that, but my pushback is always, well, you're going to play nine innings no matter what, so somebody has to close down the game and pitch those final three outs there. I like when you kind of know who that guy is, but regardless, there has been some success from Rob Thompson. I understand his reasoning behind it. I'm not going to push back based on the current state of this Phillies team. But for Ryan Kiermaier specifically, very excited this could be a really telling year. If things go 100% according to plan, that he continues on the trajectory that he is teased to be, I think we're having some very different conversations about where he stacks up against relief pitchers in the entire MLB this time next offseason. But let me know what you guys think about that. And as always, I want to remind you guys one more time to make sure you are smashing that subscribe button. Once again, just 28.2% of you guys watching these videos have subscribed to the channel just yet Phillies season is right around the corner we want to grow this Phillies Digest family as large as possible so welcome to the community here appreciate each one of you guys tuning in make sure you're hitting that like button if you haven't already either and we talk with you next time right here on Phillies Digest peace