Skip to main content

Aumont Headed Back to Bullpen

Phillies prospect Phillippe Aumont will return to a relief role going forward. As reported by the Inquirer's Matt Gelb on Thursday, the Phillies plan to restore the righty Aumont to the role in which he enjoyed the most success in his career.

A first round pick in the 2007 draft, Aumont was a prized prospect acquired in the deal that sent Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners last off-season. Aumont posted a 2-6 record with 16 saves, a 3.88 ERA and 59 strike outs in 51 relief innings at two levels of the Mariners system in 2009. However, after coming over to the Phillies, the organization chose to move Aumont, who stands 6'7", into a starting role, and he was not nearly as effective. As a member of the Double A Reading Phillies staff, Aumont struggled, going 1-6 with a 7.43 ERA in 11 starts. By June, the Phillies demoted Aumont to High A Clearwater, where he initially pitched in relief and improved somewhat, posting a 2-5 record with a 4.48 ERA in 16 games (10 starts).

Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr., speaking about Aumont's downturn in an exclusive interview, stated, "He was very young, coming into a new organization. Aumont...going back to starting again and getting a feel to being a starting pitcher again, he had some of his struggles, but we still view (him) as a high level prospect.

"Aumont obviously didn't have a good start to the season and we pushed him back to Clearwater and he had some great games, but was not very consistent. His consistency and his delivery are still things he needs to iron out."

Aumont was 21 years old for the entire 2010 season and it is apparent that starting him as high as Double A was a mistake from the start.

The piece from Gelb includes quotes from Phillies assistant general manager in charge of player development Chuck LaMar who pins blame, for Aumont's decline, on the organization.
That's where he's comfortable. We wanted to start him last year and we did. His results weren't very good. But we put him in that position. I felt bad sometimes for the kid. He wants to relieve. He feels comfortable relieving. That's what he did in Seattle.
In 2008, his first season as a professional, in the Class A Midwest League, the Quebec native Aumont appeared in 15 games, 8 of which were starts, and had a 4-4 record with a 2.75 ERA. All of his 44 appearances in 2009 were in relief.

Aumont will report to minor league camp this spring instead of starting off in Major League camp, like he did last year. Returning to the capacity in which he is most comfortable, while being able to get in a routine and building off of it should benefit Aumont greatly.

According to Amaro, "We don't judge (his) abilities necessarily by performance, but (instead) by progress and he's still a young kid. Prospects sometimes take a long time. The pudding has not been made yet, so it's really a matter of time for (him) to continue to develop. We still believe in him to be a fine prospect."
________________________________________________________

You can follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Connect with PhoulBallz.com on Facebook by clicking HERE.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2021 Phillies Top Prospects Countdown: #22 SS Casey Martin

Please visit Patreon.com/PhoulBallz in order to support my work, get access to material like this before anyone else and get access to interviews as well as other exclusive content you can't get anywhere else.   A third round draft pick last year, Arkansas junior Casey Martin was quickly signed by the Phillies and consideration as one of the organization's top infield prospects quickly began.  The team's confidence in his ceiling is likely evident in the signing bonus he got, which was reportedly $1.3 million, which was considerably more than slot money dictated by his 87th overall draft position ($685K). The right-handed batting Martin tallied a .311/.393/.545 slash line with 30 homers, 24 steals and 112 RBI in 143 games through his college career at Arkansas.  Reports had him falling in the draft as a result of an injury to the hamate bone in his left hand prior to his 2020 season.  Prior to the procedure, Baseball America projected Martin as a top ten draft pick.

Bubby Rossman's long awaited MLB debut

Eight years after he initially signed a professional contract with the Dodgers and a five-year stretch playing away from affiliated ball, Bubby Rossman became a major leaguer on Wednesday. Added as a substitute for pitcher Kyle Gibson, who is restricted from travel to Canada for the Phillies' series in Toronto, due to his medical inability to be vaccinated from COVID-19, Rossman took the mound for the first time in the majors. Rossman, who was a 22nd round draft selection in 2014 had pitched in 200 professional games before his one-inning outing in the Phillies' 8-2 loss to the Blue Jays. In 27 appearances with Double-A Reading this year, the 30-year-old right-hander has performed well, tallying a 2-2 record with a save, a 3.32 ERA and a .200 batting average against.   The embedded video below features a media session with Rossman from prior to opening day this year, in which the California native discusses his journey through independent baseball and back to affiliated ball wi

Slick fielding Sam is the Champion of the (PhoulBallz) world!

Phillies Ball(z)girl Sam Arnone was kind enough to answer some questions for the PhoulBallz site and all of you. Sam will be entering her 3rd season as a Phillies ballgirl and is a junior at Drexel University. Sam hails from the great town of Mt. Ephram, NJ. 1- Since the Phillies are the World Champions of baseball teams, are the Phillies ballgirls the world champions of ballgirl teams? - Of Course!!! There are not that many teams that have Ballgirls, so the competition is a little scarce. I would definitely put my team up against any other Ballgirl team with full confidence! 2- What is your routine to prepare for a day of on-field duties? - Before a game, I am always a little nervous. Once I am ready to leave my house and head to the ballpark I triple check my bag to make sure I have my glove and then I check again. I always have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat because it keeps me full and gives me energy for the entire game. I guess I might have to find a new favorite sa