Exhasterbated by injuries, the Phillies bullpen has been stretched thin and punished because of that. Philadelphia has thrown a reliever out with no days rest 62 times this year, the second-most in baseball, and they’ve allowed 4.80 runs per game, just above the league average.
Because of the short-handedness caused by injuries, Philadelphia had to dig deep into their farm system and call up J.D. Hammer.
From the day Hammer was acquired from Colorado for Pat Neshek, he became a folk legend among those who followed the Phillies farm system. With the hair and glasses of Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn from Major League, Hammer’s arrival to the big leagues has been a near perfect Hollywood script.