The Phillies will call up right-handed pitching prospect Seth Johnson to make his first career Major League start on Sunday vs. the Marlins, per Kiley McDaniel of ESPN:

Johnson, along with Moises Chace, were both acquired at the trade deadline for former Phillies reliever Gregory Soto, who asked out of the organization after not being happy with his role. If you can call a trade a win before you see either guy in the pros, this was certainly one of those situations. 

Seth Johnson has a pretty wild story. He was a shortstop for Louisburg College, a JUCO program in North Carolina. He transferred to Campbell University after his Sophomore year, which is when he started to focus solely on pitching. 

Johnson has stretched a 2.33 ERA across 88.2 innings with three minor league teams this year – the Bowie Baysox, Reading Phils, and IronPigs. He’s made just three starts in AAA, but has tallied a 0.56 ERA in those respective starts, with just one earned run allowed to 13 strikeouts. He was named International League Pitcher of the Week on Monday.

The Tyler Phillips local kid story was awesome, especially after his complete game shutout against the Cleveland Guardians back in July. But a 13.50 ERA in your last three starts won’t buy you much time in the pros, especially for a team with World Series aspirations. 


Taijuan Walker has now moved into a bullpen role after getting shelled for three straight months. Kolby Allard can’t be recalled until September 10th. The Phillies didn’t have many other options than Johnson for this Sunday. 

If it works, you have your 5th starter for the rest of the season. If it doesn’t work, Kolby Allard will be ready to go again by time the 5th starter slot is up again (Saturday, September 14th against the Mets). It can’t be worse than watching Taijuan Walker every five days.