A look at relief pitching at the upper reaches of the system; Over the weekend we will look at relief pitching through the rest of the syste,

Lehigh Valley

Phillippe Aumont, 25, Acquired from Seattle in 2009; 22 games, 2-1 with a 4.02 ERA; 31.1IP 26H 22BB 34K; 1.25 GO/AO; .236 opp. avg; 1.53WHIP; 6.3BB/9.8K per 9; .170 vs. LHH, .286 vs. RHH, .294 with RISP; Pretty much the same old story for Aumont who still struggles to throw the ball over the plate consistently. His cup of coffee with the Phillies was a disaster and he hasn’t pitched in 10 days due to a sore arm.

Shawn Camp, 38, Signed as a free agent in 2014; 12 games, 0-1 with a 4.50ERA; 14IP 20H 5BB 9K; 2.44 GO/AO; .345 opp. avg; 1.79WHIP; 3.2BB/5.7K per 9; Camp has been ineffective since changing his motion to that of a side armer. At 38, his days may be numbered when everyone gets healthy.

Luis Garcia, 27, Signed as a free agent in 2013; 20 games, 2-0 with an 0.40ERA; 12 saves; 22.2IP 16H 9BB 23K; 0HR allowed; 1.87 GO/AO; .195 opp. avg; .211 vs. LHP; .182 vs. RHP; .105 with RISP; 1.10WHIP; 3.6BB/9.1K per 9; Simply doesn’t get much better than what Garcia has put on the board in AAA over the last two seasons; His opportunity in Philly was limited and clearly didn’t make the most of it.

Jeremy Horst, 28, Signed as a free agent in 2012; 24 games; 1-1 with a 4.78ERA; 26.1IP 25H 20BB 21K; 0.74 GO/AO; .255 opp. avg; 2HR allowed; .238 vs. LHH, .268 vs. RHH, .216 with RISP; 1.71WHIP; 6.8BB/7.2K per 9; 5.50ERA and 7.5BB/9 since May 1.  Horst is on the long list of Phillies minor league pitchers that can’t throw strikes. His walk rate kills him.

Cesar Jiminez, 29, Re-signed as a free agent in 2014; 25 games; 2-1 with a 1.53ERA; 3 saves; 35.1IP 24H 8BB 32K; 0HR allowed; 0.95 GO/AO; .195 opp avg; .227 vs. LHH; .171 vs. RHH; .261 with RISP. 0.91 WHIP; 2.0BB/8.2K per 9; Jiminez has been outstanding for Lehigh Valley and pitched well in his short stint in Philly. With Bastardo, Diekman and Hollands in front of him in Philly from the left side, his opportunity is limited.  That said, I continue to really like him and hope he gets more of a chance.

Tyler Knigge, 25, Phils 12th round pick in 2010 draft; 24 games; 4-1 with a 2.54ERA; 3 saves; 46IP 35H 10BB 30K; 1HR allowed; 1.38 GO/AO; .217 opp avg; 0.98 WHIP; 1.9BB/5.9K per 9; In 7 games for LV: 1-1 with a 3.76 ERA; 0.75WHIP; .214 opp avg; Knigge has been used often and pitched extremely well this year.  He is throwing strikes and getting outs without the dominant put away pitch.  Knigge is keeping himself on track for a major league debut in September of the beginning of next season.

Hector Neris, 25, Signed as a free agent in 2010; 26 games between Reading and Lehigh Valley; 3-0 with a 2.89 ERA; 1 save; 43.2IP 30H 19BB 26K; 6HR allowed; 1.00 GO/AO; .199 opp avg; 1.12WHIP; 3.9BB/5.4K per 9; For LV: 15 games, 1-0 with a 3.70ERA; 1.11 WHIP; .207 opp avg; Neris continues flying under the radar doing a very effective job pitching multiple innings  more often than not.

Ethan Martin, 25, Acquired from Dodgers in 2013; 9 games; 0-1 with a 5.56ERA; 11.1IP 13H 6BB 11K; 1.63 GO/AO; .295 opp avg; 1.68WHIP; 4.7BB/8.8K per nine; Martin spent the first month of the season on the DL and then the last several weeks not pitching much for the Phils before they sent him back to Lehigh Valley to presumably pitch more. He was bombed in his first outings back with the ‘Pigs accounting for the high ERA above.

Reading

Matt Hoffman, 25, Signed as a free agent in 2014; Has thrown in 3 games (2.1IP) without allowing an ER.

Colton Murray, 24,  Phils 13th round pick in 2011 draft; 24 games; 2-3 with a 1.69ERA; 2 saves; 42.2IP 31H 16BB 41K; 2HR allowed; 0.73 GO/AO; .204 opp avg; 1.10 WHIP; 3.4BB/8.6K per 9; 13 games for Reading, 0-1 with a 1.44ERA; 0.96WHIP; .174 opp. avg; Murray has been outstanding this year after falling off the map a bit last year.  He has placed himself right back in the mix with the Phils presumably starting to notice.

Mike Nesseth, 26, Phils 17th round pick in 2010; 22 games between Lehigh Valley and Reading ; 1-6 with a 7.66ERA; 1 save; 49.1IP 77H 8HR allowed; 18BB 36K; 1.42 GO/AO; .358 opp avg; 1.93 WHIP; 3.3BB/6.6K per 9; Just an awful year for Nesseth, who started as a key member of the ‘Pigs staff and is now throwing mop up innings for Reading.  There is some recent hope as Nesseth has allowed just 1ER over his last 10.2IP spanning 5 games.

Ryan O’Sullivan, 24, Acquired by the Phils in 2012; 24 games; 2-4 with a 3.06ERA; 47IP 45H 11BB 33K; 6HR allowed; 1.38 GO/AO; .247 opp avg; .212 vs. LHH, .267 vs. RHH, .283 with RISP; 1.19WHIP; 2.1BB/6.3K per 9; Albeit with some recent struggles, O’Sullivan has pitched largely very well this year, throwing often multiple innings in high leverage situations.

Neifi Ogando, 25, Acquired in 2013 from Boston; 26 games; 2-1 with a 7.39ERA; 6 saves; 31.2IP 40H 16BB 31K; 4HR allowed; 1.86 GO/AO; .310 opp avg; 1.76WHIP; 4.5BB/8.8K per 9; .340 vs. LHH, .293 vs. RHH; .333 with RISP; AFter decent numbers through May, Ogando has been simply atrocious since, with a 13.11ERA and 2.91WHIP over his last 10 outings.

Seth Rosin, 25, Acquired from Dodgers in 2012; 23 games between Lehigh Valley and Reading; 2-4 with a 4.99ERA; 3 saves; 30.2IP 35H 12BB 24K; 3HR allowed; 0.70 GO/AO; .297 opp avg; 1.53WHIP; 3.5BB/7.0K per 9; Rosin pitched miserably for Lehigh Valley and was demoted to Reading where he has shown signs of life.

Kyle Simon, 23, Acquired from Baltimore in 2012; 25 games  between Lehigh Valley and Reading ; 1-3 with a 6.00ERA;36IP 44H 12BB 16K; 3HR allowed; 2.26 GO/AO; .306 opp. avg; 1.56WHIP; 2.7BB/4.0K per 9. See Comments on Rosin

Austin Wright, 24, Phils 8th round pick in 2011 draft; 19 games; 2-0 with a 4.31ERA; 1.69WHIP; 8.0BB/9: Wright has been on the DL for three plus weeks with arm issues.