Thursday, October 1, 2026
79 ° Clear
79 ° Clear
The struggling Philadelphia Phillies bullpen took a big hit on Thursday with right-hander Brad Keller suffering a torn right UCL according to the team.
Keller said he will be getting a second opinion.
Keller signed a two-year, $22-million deal in December.
The right-hander struggled at the start of the year posting a 4.26 ERA in 13 appearances logging 12 ⅔ innings allowing six earned runs on nine hits. In May, he seemed to be settling in yielding a 3.00 ERA in 12 appearances and allowed four earned runs in 12 innings of work.
However, in June, Keller struggled in six outings. He had a 6.35 ERA in just 5 ⅔ innings. In the middle of the month, he was placed on the 15-day IL with right forearm tendinitis. He returned on July 8, making his first appearance that day, tossing a scoreless seventh inning with a walk and strikeout against Cincinnati.
"It felt like something was kind of up because he came back and threw, I think it was Kansas City or Cincinnati, and was really good," interim manager Don Mattingly said before Thursday's game against the New York Mets. " We kind of expected him to be ready to go the next day. He was doing his work in the weight room, and I could tell... not really hurting in one spot. We thought big league intensity. He went a little harder in rehab and things like that. We thought the next day he'd be fine, but it just kept going day-to-day. One day he came in after playing catch, and it was not good. So, that's when everything got set in motion."
The 30-year-old overall has gone 2-1 with a 4.02 ERA with 32 strikeouts in 32 relief appearances this season.
Last season with the Chicago Cubs, Keller had a banner year, posting a 2.07 ERA in 68 appearances with 75 punchouts in 69 ⅔ innings.
Right-hander Seth Johnson has been recalled from Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He has appeared in a career-high 11 games this season in the bigs striking out 14 batters in 11 ⅓ innings of work.
We will have updates as more information becomes available.
