Phillies Promote Relief Prospect Therrien to Replace Neshek

With former Phillies reliever Pat Neshek now a member of the Colorado Rockies and three new prospects in the Phillies system, the Phillies have a void both on the 40-man roster and on the 25-man active roster.  The Phillies already have one starting pitcher as a member of the bullpen in Jake Thompson, thanks to a roster crunch.  Edubray Ramos was pitching well at Lehigh Valley since his demotion in June, but he recently landed on the 7-day disabled list.   Starting pitcher Mark Leiter started Wednesday, and Ben Lively and Zach Eflin are slated to pitch tonight and tomorrow night, respectively.  So, the Phillies decided to promote a relief prospect, according to a report.

Most people have not heard of Jesen Therrien.  He is not on the top prospect lists, but those who watch him are greatly impressed and see him as potential piece in the Phillies bullpen long-term.  The 24 year-old Canadian pitcher is headed to Philadelphia, reports the Journal de Montreal.   The report says he is already in Philadelphia.

Phillies manager Pete Mackanin praised Therrien to Matt Breen of the Philadelphia Inquirer upon his promotion to Triple-A:

"We loved him in spring. I loved his breaking ball," Mackanin said. "We really got excited about his breaking ball. He has a really nasty breaking ball. It's good to see.  ...  He's on the map for me based on what I saw in the spring. He came in, and threw strikes with a really good looking breaking ball. Especially out of the bullpen, if you have a really good breaking ball and you can command it, that's half the battle."

Therrien was a 17th round draft pick in 2011.  His numbers have mostly been decent throughout his time in the Phillies system, but 2017 was particularly strong as that command has come into fruition.

In 39 games split between Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley, Therrien is 2-1 with a 1.41 earned run average.   At each level, Therrien pitched 28 2/3 innings.  He will now have a chance to showcase that breaking ball in the big leagues.