Joe Savery has made the 25 man roster

Savery, Joe, Spring Training 2012

That’s the word on the street, at least.

This site has been around for a little more than 5 years, and Savery’s story is probably the coolest thing I’ve seen since I started closely following the minor leagues like 10 years ago. He was close to calling it a career and retiring, he switched from pitcher to hitter, then switched back to pitcher, recovered 3-4 mph on his fastball, and is now on the opening day roster of the big league club.

No matter how good he ends up becoming or what role he carves out at the major league level, his story is a great inspiration for future players, and a good lesson that anything can happen in baseball, and even when you think you have a good idea of what is going to happen, you can still be completely surprised.

Congrats to Joe, and continued success.

25 thoughts on “Joe Savery has made the 25 man roster”

  2. It is good that the Phillies honored Savery by choosing him for the opening day roster. Valdes also pitched well and has many of the same strengths. An obvious difference is that Savery is younger and a long time member of the organization. Now he is a major league ballplayer for opening day. I am happy for him.

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  3. Good for Joe…And more evidence of the dramatic difference between starter and reliever prospects.

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    1. Not necessarily. It’s not like every failed starter can get it done in relief, and if Savery were still throwing 86-88 instead of 91-93 I don’t think he’d be in this situation.

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        2. It might be, but that doesn’t happen with every pitcher who moves into the bullpen. I just don’t think saying Savery having success as a reliever illustrates the gap between starters and relievers is accurate, because to me it implies that any old crappy starter could make at least a decent reliever.

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  4. Great for you, Joe! Hangin’ in and ….presto, you’re a major leaguer.

    Now, throw good strikes, work quickly, and change speeds. Hope you’ll stay for a while…like some years.

    Several of us here have been pounding the drums for you to get a fair shot. Now, you’ve got it! Give us good lefty pitching out of the pen. Stick around.

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  5. Congrates Joe, good to have more home grown prospects make it versus bringing every one in via trade or FA. Hopefully the hard work and determination will pay off with some success and a decent career in the Majors.

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  7. Congrats to Joe! I remember a lot of people saying JdF was a much better prospect than Savery. I for one thought he and JdF were not all that different as prospects. And now here Savery is in the majors. Let’s hope he is this year’s Stutes. Go Joe!

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    1. At the time, he WASN’T an equivalent prospect to JDF. He eventually regained 3-4 MPH on his fastball.

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        1. Regarding JDF JMO but in the long run he will be a significant contributor to the big league club … more significant than Savery. Great story nonetheless.

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        2. Fair enough, but my argument is that they are not as different as everyone thought/thinks.

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      2. I argued this only a couple of months ago when we were ranking the prospects.

        Fangraphs shows that Savery averaged 91 on his FB (albeit facing only 9 hitters) and JdF averaged 92 (17 hitters), so everyone was aware of Savery’s increased velocity at the time of the rankings.

        I understand how JdF has a great slider and maybe has a higher ceiling. My point is that Savery is a lot better than most people thought, not that different from JdF considering he made the team.

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  8. I feel a little less silly for advocating a spot for him at the bottom of the Top 30 now! Lefthanded pitchers never die.

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    1. That is false and unfair. Savery has performed well since being in the bullpen and will contribute to the Phils this year. There are a number of higher picks from that draft who have been worse. To wit:

      #3 pick Josh Vitters hit .283/.322/.448 in AA last year
      #4 pick Daniel Moskos had a 3.43 ERA in AAA and 2.96 ERA in MLB last year (Savery performed better)
      #8 pick Casey Weathers had an ERA of 5.33 in AA last year
      #11 Philippe Aumont…well you know
      #13 pick Beau Mills hit .269/.326/.496 in AAA last year
      #16 pick Kevin Ahrens hit .242/.334/.389 in A+ last year
      #18 pick Pete Kozma hit .214/.280/.289 in AAA last year, still managed to get the call and was even worse in MLB

      Should the Phils have taken Tim Alderson (#22)? He’s pitching in relief at AA. Nick Schmidt (#23)? He is in A+. Mike Main (#24)? He is in A+. Aaron Poreda (#25)? 5.56 ERA in AAA last year.

      Yes, there were better players that the Phils could have picked. But they are getting MLB-level production from Savery. Hardly a waste.

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  12. Speaking of pitchers, this just came out on rotoworld:

    Diamondbacks sent LHP Mike Zagurski outright to Triple-A Reno.
    The move clears a spot on Arizona’s 40-man roster. Zagurski failed to draw much interest on waivers, despite posting a 2.61 ERA and 9/2 K/BB ratio over 10 1/3 innings this spring.

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  13. Joe has a admirable Philadelphia trait . He never gave up and given a chance he will stick because he gets lefties and righties out.
    . “Colorado Rockies pitcher Josh Outman will start the year on the disabled list with an oblique strain suffered … (drum roll) …. while vomiting during a case of food poisoning.”

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