2022 report cards: The Forgotten

Nov 22, 2022 - 2:30 PM

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Each season we do these report cards, we stumble across the names of players we cannot quite recall. Had you told me that Bubby Rossman was either a Phillies pitcher or the name of my local mailman, I’d likely have chosen the latter. No offense to Rossman, I just have zero recollection of his ever throwing a baseball for the Phillies.

If I remember correctly, Michael Kelly had a good story attached to his big league debut. Let’s take a look at Google. Ah yes, now I remember. Independent ball, sent a video around, got a minor league look. Good story.

Nick Duron? Never heard of him.

Vinny Nittoli? Alright then.

2022 stats

Bubby Rossman: 1 G, 1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 BB, 1 K, 18.00 ERA (17.11 FIP), -0.1 bWAR
Michael Kelly: 4 G, 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 BB, 4 K, 2.25 ERA (5.86 FIP), 0.1 bWAR
Vinny Nittoli: 2 G, 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 1 BB, 1 K, 0.00 ERA (5.11 FIP), 0.1 bWAR
Nick Duron: 1 G, 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 HR, 0 BB, 1 K, 0.00 ERA (1.11 FIP), 0.0 bWAR

The Good

Listen, in years past, the team didn’t have much depth on the farm in the way of relief pitchers. It’s partially the reason guys like Heath Hembree and Brandon Workman were allowed to be acquired for real, actual pitchers. As I wrote about earlier with Tyler Cyr, the team has made a concerted effort to sign or claim pitchers that might have a single the skill the team can use for a bit before moving on to the next guy. These four guys are examples of that effort.

While none of them did anything special, they at least gave the team something to consider down in Lehigh Valley. Had they not at least shown something resembling big league stuff, they would have never gotten a cup of coffee in Philadelphia. Instead, they came up, threw a few pitches, then went along their merry way. It’s better than what they were doing in the past, holding on to guys for way too long before mercifully moving on from them.

The Bad

I mean, they weren’t actually good though.

The Future

None of them actually do anything noteworthy enough to warrant a 40-man roster spot. All four could be re-signed to minor league deals to give them that depth yet again, but it’s likely they’ll look to another organization where they might have more of a chance to stick as a member of that team’s 40-man roster spot longer than they did here.

Good luck with that.