WASHINGTON — The Phillies may not have a permanent answer for their fifth rotation spot.
It’s late June.
But they seemingly have a plan, for now.
It starts Monday night (weather-permitting) against the Nationals, when left-hander Tim Mayza will open before Alan Rangel takes over.
The Phillies recalled Rangel from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Monday and made a string of corresponding moves around him. They activated left-handed submariner Kyle Backhus from the injured list, optioned Max Lazar to Lehigh Valley and designated right-hander Bryse Wilson for assignment.
Wilson made just one appearance for the Phils. Two scoreless frames on Thursday against the Mets. He had been viewed as a long-relief option after Andrew Painter’s demotion, but Rangel now gives the club a more direct path to covering the fifth spot.
That’s the distinction.
“At this point, we’ve kind of made a commitment to that spot,” Don Mattingly said. “I’m not saying we’re making a commitment to a full start every time. It could be an opener, it could be starting. Sometimes it can depend on a team’s lineup construction.”
The Nationals present one of those matchup-driven situations. Washington often stacks left-handed hitters near the top with James Wood and CJ Abrams, making Mayza a logical first look.
“We really just wanted to open,” Mattingly said. “They run a little bit of switching in their lineup, and this gives us the best chance to map it out.”
Mayza has held left-handed hitters to a .519 OPS this season. He is expected to cover an inning, perhaps more, before handing the game to Rangel.
Against a more right-handed-heavy lineup, Mattingly suggested the Phillies could skip the opener and let Rangel start outright.
“If it’s San Diego or someone who has a ton of righties, we’d probably straight up and let him go,” Mattingly said. “These guys are a little different. This way, we can see the pockets they want to use and see where we can go.”
The 27-year-old Rangel is the most logical internal arm for the role.
Across 70 innings at Lehigh Valley this season, split between the rotation and bullpen, he has a 3.99 ERA with 73 strikeouts and 27 walks. His changeup has become his best weapon. He throws it less than 30 percent of the time, but hitters have missed on 45 percent of their swings against it.
Rangel is not overpowering, but he has enough secondary stuff to get through a lineup and provide length.
“I’ve seen him pitch only a little bit in spring training,” Mattingly said. “But I think the fact that Rangel has been the guy throwing the best, they felt like, down there, he was going to be the best guy long term for us.”
How deep Rangel will depend, when he follows Mayza.
“We’ll see what he can do,” Mattingly said. “He’s been throwing the ball well. The last time he came up, we felt like he threw the ball well. So we’ll see what it looks like.”
The Phillies could still look outside the organization for a back-end starter before the trade deadline.
They have reportedly searched for rotation help, and there are clubs slowly falling out of contention with arms to move. Others have enough upper-level pitching depth to entertain a deal before the deadline.
The Phillies could make a move within the next few weeks, not necessarily wait until late July. A right-handed bat once looked like their clearest deadline need. With Painter in Triple-A and Aaron Nola struggling, a starter could move up the list.
Hear from the Phillies starting pitcher after allowing six runs over just two innings of work on Wednesday against the Marlins.
For now, though, Rangel appears to be the club’s internal answer.
The bullpen moves helped make the opener possible.
Backhus returned after missing time with left elbow inflammation. The Phillies had liked the way he was throwing before the injury. After allowing three runs on Opening Day, he posted a 1.93 ERA and 0.96 WHIP in his next nine appearances.
Opponents went 1-for-12 against his sweeper in that stretch.
His five-degree release point gives the Phillies a different look against left-handed hitters, an area where the bullpen has struggled all season.
The Phillies have the third-worst opponents’ average against left-handed hitters in baseball. They are worst in the sport in left-on-left matchups at .305.
Left-handed hitters have batted .383 with a .952 OPS against José Alvarado. They hit .354 with a .966 OPS against Tanner Banks before the Phillies optioned him last week.
Backhus faced only 15 left-handed hitters before landing on the IL, but held them to a .619 OPS.
“He was throwing the ball really well, getting his outs and looking really good,” Mattingly said.
Ultimately, with Brad Keller on the injured list, the late-inning hierarchy is shifting, too.
Jonathan Bowlan has a 0.63 ERA with 15 strikeouts and one walk in his last 14 appearances. He has earned more seventh-inning opportunities.
Orion Kerkering, who owns a 2.20 ERA in 31 outings, has moved closer to the setup role in front of Jhoan Duran. His 21.1 hard-hit rate ranks third lowest in the majors.
That leaves Seth Johnson in a role similar to the one Bowlan held earlier in the season.
Johnson had a 1.33 ERA in 27 innings out of Lehigh Valley’s bullpen before his promotion. His fastball velocity has climbed since the Phillies acquired him from Baltimore in the Gregory Soto trade two years ago.
Mattingly said Johnson could fill the bridge innings when the Phillies need to get to their higher-leverage arms.
“With Keller out, it pushes Bowlan back,” Mattingly said. “Seth hopefully falls into the Bowlan role. Then days you don’t have your back-end guys, they just kind of slide to the back.”
The Phillies are still searching for consistency at the back of their rotation.
But Painter’s demotion has forced them to choose a direction.
For now, they are getting creative with the matchup, rolling with Rangel and trusting their bullpen roles to sort themselves out behind him.