Philadelphia Phillies: Will Jermey Hellickson be an Unsung Hero?

Coming off of a spring training start where he threw five hitless innings for the Philadelphia Phillies maybe it’s time to give Jeremy Hellickson some credit.

Jeremy Hellickson was acquired by the Philadelphia Phillies from the Arizona Diamondbacks in a trade for Sam McWilliams in Hellickson’s final year before free agency. Hellickson is slated to make $6.6 million this year as the Phillies’ ace.

While some players such as Maikel Franco will be important to the success of the Philadelphia Phillies this season, Hellickson will be one of the key players for the Phillies due to his importance to the pitching staff.

Hellickson has played for the Tampa Bay Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks before coming to Philadelphia. While with the Rays, Hellickson won the Rookie of the Year award in 2011. During that year, Hellickson pitched to a 2.95 ERA over 189.0 innings. He pitched to a 13-10 record over 29 starts.

After that year, it looked like Hellickson had the potential to be a top of the rotation starter for the Rays, but that never happened. After 2012, when Hellickson won the Golden Glove and pitched to an ERA of 3.10 starting 31 games for the Rays, Hellickson never managed an ERA under 4.50.

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In the 2013 off-season Hellickson underwent elbow surgery to remove loose bodies from his right elbow. In Hellickson’s last season with the Rays in 2014, he pitched an abysmal stat line with an ERA of 4.52 allowing 10 hits per nine innings along with 3 walks per nine innings.

Check out Hellickson’s career stats here

Hellickson missed the first three months of that season and was also optioned to the minors for a short stint. 2014 was basically a lost season for the pitcher. After that season, Jeremy Hellickson was picked up by the Arizona Diamondbacks who hoped that they were getting a prime bounce back candidate.

Hellickson also made the move from the offensively loaded AL East to the offensively challenged National League (or so it seemed). While with the Diamondbacks, Hellickson faced three above average offenses with the Colorado Rockies, San Francisco Giants, and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

During that year, Hellickson had an ERA of 4.62, but more importantly made 27 starts and pitched 146 innings. There is no reason not to expect improvement as he comes to the Philadelphia Phillies this season.

By joining the NL East, the highest ranked offense that Hellickson will see are the New York Mets who finished 14th in the MLB last season. No other offense except the Braves even finished in the top half of the league last year. Hellickson will also be backed up by a better defense with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Performance isn’t the only place where the Philadelphia Phillies will be counting on Jeremy Hellickson this season, they also need him to mentor Aaron Nola and Jerad Eickhoff. Both of them are young pitchers looking to find their way in the league but Hellickson can help mentor them on becoming MLB starting pitchers.

If Hellickson does have a bounce back season, there are two main ways that he can benefit the Philadelphia Phillies. The first is as mid-season trade bait to a contending team for a package of prospects. Since the Phillies are in full rebuild mode unless they feel that they can sign Hellickson to an extension (which is a possibility since he will just be turning 29 during the season).

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The second is by adding a draft pick through the Qualifying Offer system. If Hellickson performs well then he would most likely turn down any Qualifying Offer given to him for a shot at a multi-year deal, netting the Philadelphia Phillies a supplemental pick.

Jeremy Hellickson may have been acquired on the cheap, but he could go a long way to make the 2016 Phillies successful.

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