{"id":668666,"date":"2026-04-07T16:15:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/668666\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T16:15:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:15:17","slug":"phillies-option-lefty-reliever-with-funky-delivery-to-activate-orion-kerkering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/668666\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillies option lefty reliever with funky delivery to activate Orion Kerkering"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> had a bit of a shaky start to the season, but they’re still a great team, and that’s especially the case in the bullpen.<\/p>\n

Jhoan Duran is one of the best closers, while Brad Keller and Jose Alvarado are some great set-up men. And that group of set-up relievers is getting a bit better this offseason.<\/p>\n

As Todd Zolecki of MLB.com<\/a> reports, the Phillies are optioning a funky lefty reliever to activate Orion Kerkering from the injured list to join the bullpen for the first time after his NLDS blunder against the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Phillies option funky lefty, activate Orion Kerkering<\/p>\n

“The Phillies optioned LHP Kyle Backhus after Monday night’s game,” Zolecki reports, “RHP Orion Kerkering will be activated from the IL today.”<\/p>\n

Backhus, the funky lefty reliever with some intriguing potential thanks to his arm angle, posted a 9.00 ERA in four outings forthe Phillies.<\/p>\n

But those all came in his debut on Opening Day against the Texas Rangers<\/a>, when he allowed three runs in 0.1 innings of work. He struck out four and gave up just one hit in his next three outings, totaling 2.2 innings pitched.<\/p>\n

More:\u00a0Marlins suggested to sign Max Kepler after Phillies<\/a>\u2019 OF was suspended for 80 games<\/a><\/p>\n

Taking his place on the active roster is Kerkering, the 25-year-old righty reliever who posted a 3.30 ERA in 69 games last season for the Phillies.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Kerkering had a very impressive 2.29 ERA in 64 games. He’s struggled a bit in the postseason, with his 6.75 ERA in four games last year, along with his series-losing error, making for a brutal way to close 2025 for Kerkering.<\/p>\n

However, the Phillies righty is still a good reliever, and with Keller, Alvarado, Duran, and a few others in the bullpen, Kerkering’s addition should be a nice way to bolster the bullpen a few weeks into the regular season.<\/p>\n

More MLB news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Philadelphia Phillies had a bit of a shaky start to the season, but they’re still a great…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2397],"tags":[5,4,144,25,4216,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-668666","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-phillies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-philadelphia","11":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","12":"tag-philadelphiaphillies","13":"tag-phillies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116364320803616790","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}