Today marks the first day of September, or in baseball terms, the day MLB rosters expand from 26 to 28 players. Each team will be allowed to add one pitcher and one hitter to their active roster as reinforcements for the final stretch run of the regular season.
The Phillies will begin September in pretty good shape. They entered play yesterday tied with the Chicago Cubs for the first Wild Card spot in the National League while sitting with a 4.5 game cushion for a spot in the postseason. The NL East
division title is not completely out of the picture either, as the Phillies sit five games back of the Braves with seven still to play against Atlanta. But in lieu of chasing down the Braves, holding the top Wild Card spot will be crucial, as it guarantees the three-game series will be held at Citizens Bank Park.
It will be something to worth monitoring what the Phillies do with these two extra roster spots. The first players up will almost a certainly be depth players. For the pitching side, Kyle Backhus, Max Lazar, and Alan Rangel figure to be the favorites to take the spot. On the hitting side, it will very likely be a returning from the IL Rafael Marchán. If he is not deemed ready or if the team opts to not carry three catchers, Gabriel Rincones Jr., Otto Kemp, Felix Reyes, or one of the newly acquired Kameron Misner or Colby Thomas figure to get the nod.
These initial call ups likely won’t be exciting, but perhaps things get more interesting later in September. With the minor league season wrapping up, perhaps the idea of top pitching prospect Gage Wood becoming an addition to the bullpen grows in possibility. It would also seem that newly signed Nestor Cortes has a spot earmarked for him when he is deemed ready considering he was signed to an MLB deal. Those decisions are likely still at least a week away, but they hold some interesting possibilities.
So, who will be the Phillies September call-ups? Who do you think should be? Will there be some possible surprises a little later in the month?
