It wasn’t that long ago that the name Griff McGarry was mentioned alongside the names of the top pitching prospects in the Phillies organization. In 2023, the Phillies brought McGarry to spring training with the team and he started the season at Double-A Reading before missing time with an oblique injury. When he was healthy and throwing well, McGarry was moved up to Triple-A Lehigh Valley and made just three starts that were so atrocious – 20 earned runs in 4.1 innings – they pushed his season ERA from 3.26 to an even 6.00.

It was just three starts, so it didn’t seem like it was time to panic, but the Phillies may have done just that. Starting the next season, McGarry was no longer a starting pitcher. The Phillies decided to move him to the bullpen with Lehigh Valley and the results were mixed at best. McGarry never truly adapted to the role and posted a 4.55 ERA in 29 relief appearances for the IronPigs. The bullpen experiment ended as quickly as it began and McGarry was back in the starting rotation, but was also back at Double-A with the Reading Fightins.

“When I went out to the Arizona Fall League last year it gave me the opportunity to get back into a routine and I think that set me up for this year,” said McGarry. “I think I got into a more consistent routine this year and I was able to compete all year. I got into a really consistent routine both on and off the field and that set me up. I was more thorough with my consistency this year than in the past and that made a big difference.”

McGarry made 17 starts with Reading this season and posted a 3.25 ERA. The fact that he had pitched at Triple-A and was now somewhat relegated to pitching at a lower level would have frustrated most people, but McGarry simply doubled his focus and accepted everything that was going on.

“I was just competing for Reading,” said McGarry. “Obviously, there are a lot of guys here (Lehigh Valley) that I played with last year and I wanted to be around those guys, but I wasn’t in spite at all or anything. We had a great group down there and I had a really fun time and I just wanted to compete week in and week out for my team.”

The future for McGarry is interesting. The Phillies have to add him to their 40-man roster or risk losing him in the Rule 5 Draft at the Winter Meetings. It’s likely that there would be another team out there that would take a shot at grabbing a guy who has some Triple-A experience and is coming off of a strong Double-A season. The question would be whether they would be able to keep him in a starting role or make another attempt at turning him into a bullpen piece, which is where he ran into trouble last season.

If he is still with the Phillies when spring training starts, he would undoubtedly be invited to spring training to compete for a job, but the starting rotation may be difficult for McGarry to crack. One potential scenario might be for him to fill Zack Wheeler‘s spot until he is read to pitch in games after having surgery to correct Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Wheeler’s surgery is scheduled to Tuesday. McGarry could also serve as insurance at Triple-A next season as well.

On Wednesday, McGarry got the first two hitters he faced on strikeouts using his mid-70s sinker. The third hitter, Jared Young, took him deep to left field, which also came on a sinker. From there, McGarry hit a batter and walked a batter before rebounding nicely to strike out Hayden Senger on an 82 mph curve. He issued a two-out walk in the second before embarking on a stretch of retiring 10 straight hitters, four of them on strikeouts using either a sweeper or curve.

“I just yanked one on that hit batter, I threw a decent pitch on the homer, he just went down and got it, he’s a good hitter, and then the walk,” said McGarry. “I think I just needed to lock back on and finish that inning and then from there, I did a decent job.”

The good news is that McGarry got stronger as the season went on. In his last four starts – three with Reading, one with Lehigh Valley – McGarry was 2-0 with a 1.33 ERA and struck out 32 in 20.1 innings. McGarry won two Pitcher of the Week awards in the Eastern League this season and was also named the Phillies Minor League Pitcher of the Month for August.

BOTTOM LINING THIS THING

The Phillies have to protect McGarry from being exposed in the Rule 5 Draft. If they let him be stolen, it would be a bad move that they could live to regret. There will be some dead wood coming off of the 40-man roster – Daniel Harper, Jordan Romano, Rafael Lantigua, for example – and there should be some room to maneuver. If they can’t fit him onto the roster then the best approach would be to fit him into a trade – either a small trade or as a piece in a larger deal – so that they at least get something in exchange for him. McGarry is still just 26-years-old and doesn’t turn 27 until nearly the midway point of next season.