Phillies ink intriguing minor leaguer

The Phillies have signed minor league reliever Evan Fahrner.

Fahrner was 7-2 with a 2.48 ERA for the 2005 Texas League champion Midland RockHounds (A’s Double-A).

However, it’s Fahrner’s 2003 season that stands out most. In two stops, with Schaumberg of the independent Northern League and Daytona (Cubs) of the Class-A Florida State League, he pitched 45 innings, gave up 23 hits, had 64 strikeouts and allowed one earned run. Pretty damn solid.

The 28-year-old right-hander was originally a 23rd round draft pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He will be reunited with Berks County native Nick Mattioni, who was his stablemate with Midland.

Juan Richardson update: Former Phillies slugging third base prospect Juan Richardson signed a minor league deal with the St. Louis Cardinals. The 25-year-old Dominican spent parts of three seasons in Reading and was released last season.

Comments

[Adam]

You don't give the full picture on Fahrner, though. Most guys in single A or AA are in their early 20s, especially prospects. Back when he was 22, Fahrner was 1-12 with a 5.34 ERA pitching for High Desert (A). He then disappeared until 2003, when he was 25, and naturally having a more developed body and more experience, he dominated. A 27 year old with those numbers in AA is fair, but not particularly impressive.

[J. Weitzel]

Sure, I understand that, Adam. But regardless of age, that's an impressive feat what he did in 2003. He'll be a Double-A pitcher for the Phils.

[MPN]

Non sequitor: JW, any new word on the Phillies announcer line-up imbroglio? There was word that the final line-up would be announced last week, but then nothing. Then we learned from Conlin's column that the Phillies email server was crashed do to heavy email volume. And then there is another piece by Mr. Narducci on Sunday endorsing Chritopher Wheeler again, but then no further word. I'm just curious if I'd missed something.

[MPN]

do=due.

As for Fahrner, if he can shut down AA batters and help the confidences of Hamels, Gio, and Scott Mathieson in the process, I'm happy. Anything more is gravy. As Jason and others have pointed out, having career minor leaguers around to mentor top prospects and contribute to a winning environment is a very useful capability to have.

[fp]

There is too much of a leap for a 27yr old IMO from AA to the majors, though it could certainly happen. But for a pitcher, he throws a bunch of off-speed stuff to guys that haven't seen much of it and BOOM! he's a prospect. Remember Adam Walker, who was 25 and put up some GREAT numbers for the Reading PHillies, and then we dealt to the Mets for Dennis Cook...? He's been out of baseball since 2003.

[J. Weitzel]

Last I heard on the broadcast imbroglio was exactly what was originally reported by Paul Hagan: The Phillies are considering six innings of Wheeler and Harry, with LA moving exclusively to radio and Graham doing television for three. I heard the update about a week ago on 610.

[John Salmon]

This is cool-anybody with a career K/9 IP of 10.43, even in the low and mid level minors, even who's not so young, is a catch. I wonder why the A's gave up on him? Pitchers can take forever to mature, so this is, as JW put it, an intriguing signing.

[MPN]

Jason: Thank you for the update. I hadn't heard that.

[fp]

The As have a ton of pitching, that's probably why

[Walter]

Year after year after year the Phils have to go into the market for relief pitchers, even in the minors. It never works. Maybe they should consider drafting one this June with their first-round pick. Blair Erickson from Cal-Irvine would be a good choice. Drafting starters, hitters and relievers are like a tripod. You can't win without the other ones. This part is a deadly flaw in the Phillies drafting methods that's never fixed.