Work continues in the Phillies bullpen construction zone with the addition of right-hander Yunior Marte, who came over from the San Francisco Giants in a trade for lefty minor leaguer Erik Miller. The move is a continuing part of revamping the Phillies bullpen, which never quite seems to be steady for any great length of time. The ‘pen also saw a lot of exits following the 2022 season and reinforcements are needed.

The soon to be 28-year old made his MLB debut last April and went on to pitch in 39 games for the Giants, going a total of 48 innings. Over that span, Marte walked 22 batters and struck out 44 with a 1.438 WHIP and a 5.44 ERA. Last season was just the second season in the San Francisco organization for Marte, who originally signed with the Kansas Royals and came to the United States from his native Dominican Republic for the 2014 season. Marte was primarily a starter for his first three professional seasonns before beginning a transition to the bullpen. Prior to making one start for Triple-A Sacramento in 2021, his last start had come in High-A ball back in 2017.

In 260 minor league games, Marte has a 30-34, 3.79 mark and is 1-4 with a 4.06 ERA in 91 games at Triple-A. He also has two option years remaining, meaning he could be optioned out to pitch with Triple-A Lehigh Valley rather than playing a role with the big league club.

In exchange for Marte, the Phillies sent Miller, 24-year old lefty, to the Giants. Miller made 15 relief appearances and seven starts for Double-A Reading last season with a 1-0 record and a 2.23 ERA that earned him a promotion to Lehigh Valley. With the IronPigs, Miller pitched in 10 games and amassed a 7.50 ERA and an 0-1 record. A main issue at Lehigh Valley was Miller’s 21.5-percent walk rate.

The Phillies drafted Miller in the fourth round of the 2019 Draft out of Stanford. In his time in the Phillies organization, Miller made 29 relief appearances and 19 starts to post an ERA of 2.51 with a 2-1 record.

Baseball America has had Miller listed among the Phils top 30 prospects in each of the past three seasons, but his development was impacted by the loss of the 2020 minor league season and a 2021 season that was taken off course by a number of injuries.