Staff and Wire Reports
CHICAGO — The Phillies acquired Jhoan Duran Wednesday, trading two top prospects to the Minnesota Twins for the hard-throwing reliever.
Duran has 16 saves and a 2.01 ERA in 49 appearances this season, striking out 53 in 49 1/3 innings. He has limited opponents to a slash line of .219/.296/.257 this season.
Catcher Eduardo Tait and right-handed pitcher Mick Abel were shipped to Minnesota in the deal.
The Phillies are battling the New York Mets for the NL East title. The Phillies won the division last year but were eliminated by the Mets in the NL Division Series, a playoff series in which a seemingly well-constructed bullpen fell apart.
Duran pitched in the postseason in 2023 with the Twins. He allowed no runs in five innings across four appearances with two saves, allowing two hits (both singles), one walk and six strikeouts.
He was signed as an amateur free agent by Arizona in 2014 and acquired by Minnesota in a trade in 2018.
It’s the second straight year that the Phillies have acquired a closer at the deadline, getting Carlos Estevez from the Los Angeles Angels last year. The Phillies were unable to retain either Estevez or fellow hard-throwing righty Jeff Hoffman in the offseason, both heading to the AL for lucrative contracts. That left the Phillies short a right-handed power arm from Day 1 of the season.
The 27-year-old Duran joins a bullpen led by Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering. The Phillies also signed David Robertson, currently on assignment with Lehigh Valley, for the rest of the season. The Phillies will get Jose Alvarado back from an 80-game suspension for a positive drug test in August, but he is ineligible for the postseason roster.
Duran’s 100.2 mph average velocity on his four-seam fastball is second to Mason Miller’s 101.1 mph among those who have thrown 200 or more pitches. Duran has thrown 163 pitches of 100 mph or more, fourth most in majors behind Miller, Seth Halvorsen and Daniel Palencia.
Both prospects that the Phillies gave up are ranked in the top 100 by Major League Baseball – Tait at No. 56, Abel at No. 92. They were rated by MLB as the fourth- and sixth-best prospects in the Phillies’ system.
Tait is still just 18. Signed out of Panama in 2023, he was recently promoted to High A. He batted .302 with 11 homers and 73 RBIs in 87 games over two Single-A levels last year. This season, the lefthanded batter is hitting .255 with 11 homers and 57 RBIs in 81 games.
Abel, 23, has returned to the promise that made him the 15th overall pick in the 2020 draft. After battling wildness in 2024 – he was 3-12 with a 6.46 ERA and 1.81 WHIP in 24 starts – he’s been excellent this year. In 13 Triple-A starts, he’s 7-2 with a 2.31 ERA.
Abel made his major league debut on May 18, with six shutout innings against the Pirates. He allowed one run in 5.1 innings against Toronto and in 5 against Miami, but was roughed up in his last outing, allowing two hits, five walks and five earned runs in a loss to San Diego.
Abel has talent and projects as a power arm. But the Phillies don’t have an obvious pathway to get him into the big-league rotation, with Andrew Painter ahead of him in the prospect pecking order and four starting pitchers under organizational control next year, which is also the last year of Taijuan Walker’s contract.
Source: Berkshire mont
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