Phillies

Brad Keller Suffers Torn UCL in Right Elbow

By Luke Arcaini

Published: Jul 16th, 2026 · 3:25 PM EDT

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Phillies reliever Brad Keller has suffered a torn UCL in his throwing elbow, the Phillies announced ahead of Thursday night’s game vs. the Mets:

Prior to tonight’s game against the New York Mets, the Phillies placed RHP Brad Keller on the 15-day injured list (retro to 7/13) with a right elbow UCL tear. To fill his spot on the 26-man roster, RHP Seth Johnson was recalled from triple-A Lehigh Valley.

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) July 16, 2026

Keller, who signed a 2-year, $22M deal with the Phillies this past offseason, was activated off of the IL on July 8th after going down with “right forearm tendinitis” in the middle of June. He threw one inning in relief the day he was activated, but did not throw another inning all the way up until the All-Star Break.

It’s a brutal blow for a Phillies bullpen that is already in desperate need of another leverage arm. Keller made 32 appearances in relief this season, totaling a 4.02 ERA, 0.6 WAR, and a 1.34 WHIP in 31.1 innings. If Keller were to undergo surgery, which he most likely will, he’d miss a good chunk of 2027 as well.

The Phillies have a good list of priorities at the trade deadline, which is in a little more than two weeks. A backend starter, potentially another bat, and now multiple relievers.

“I felt good through my rehab process with my forearm,” Brad Keller said to reporters pregame. “I felt good in that outing in Cincinnati. Next day, I woke up and it was really sore.”

Keller confirmed that when he got his original MRI after going down with the forearm injury, there was no tear in his UCL. It happened at some point from his rehab start to his outing in Cincinnati.

Don Mattingly was asked pregame about the status of Gage Wood and Alex McFarlane, and confirmed that both of those guys are not currently an option for a call up, from what he knows.