Joe Savery who was DFA’d to make room for AJ Burnett, has been claimed by the Oakland Athletics.  On the surface Savery is a fringe bullpen arm with a minor league option left.  The Phillies are stacked with fringe bullpen arms making Savery redundant for the organization.  

But I want to take a minute to talk about Savery’s incredible journey.   As a freshman at rice he showed a plus fastball and a pair of plus secondary pitches to go with a workhorse frame.  Had he been draft eligible, he would have been an easy Top 5 pick.  However, shoulder surgery had him down to 85-89 in his draft year, leaving Baseball America to say this:

Area scouts have projected Savery as a 2007 first-rounder since he came out of Lamar High in Houston three years ago. He was the top two-way player in the state, but it would have taken a $1 million bonus to dissuade him from following Jeff Niemann‘s path from Lamar to Rice. As with Niemann in 2004, Savery hasn’t been 100 percent in his draft year following offseason surgery. He didn’t pitch for the Owls last June, then had minor surgery to shave down a bone growth in the back of his shoulder that was causing some fraying in his labrum. Savery has taken a regular turn in the Rice rotation this spring, but he has been less than dominant, as his 44-30 K-BB ratio through 68 innings would attest. Savery’s velocity was improving in early May, as he was showing a 90-94 mph fastball for a couple of innings and still touched 90 after 100 pitches. In his initial starts this season, he worked more often at 85-89 mph. His changeup is a plus pitch, and his hard, slurvy curveball can get strikeouts when it’s on, though he hasn’t used it as much as in the past. Savery has continued to pull double duty for the Owls, playing first base and leading the club with a .353 average and 43 RBIs through 52 games. Once he regains full health, he could take off after he focuses his energy and efforts on pitching. The recent litany of Rice pitching prospects who have needed surgery after turning pro concerns scouts, but Savery could be a steal if he slides into the second half of the first round.

The Phillies took him at #19 overall in the 2007 draft, hoping he would bounce back to be a front of the rotation starter.  The velocity never came back and he was often sitting in the low 80s during starts.  It is a testament to his feel for pitching that he made it to AAA in 2009, but he stalled out there.

In 2011 he began the season hitting full time (Savery was Rice’s leading hitter in college).  In Clearwater he hit .307/.368/.410 as an 1B/OF.  During his time in Reading he through an inning during a extra innings game and the velocity was back to the low 90’s.  It was a good enough turnaround to get him to the majors at the end of 2011 as a reliever.

Savery split 2012 and 2013 between the majors, AAA, and the disabled list.  In the majors he showed a fastball that was 90-92 touching as high as 94 with a pair of average secondary pitches.  Overall Savery went from castoff to pitching 47.2 innings over three major league seasons.

I wish him all the best in Oakland and I hope they use him as a reliever/hitter combination.