Philadelphia Phillies: David Hale could see an increased role in 2021

Philadelphia Phillies RHP David Hale could see a bigger role working out of the bullpen in 2021.

Prior to this past year’s trade deadline, the Philadelphia Phillies traded for four separate relievers. David Hale, Brandon Workman, Heath Hembree, and David Phelps. Despite giving up a handful of prospects for this collective group of arms, only one name will return to the team in 2021.

That of course being Hale.

The first trade that Matt Klentak made to address his historically bad bullpen, Hale was landed via a trade with the New York Yankees. The Phillies sent over 26 year old pitching prospect Addison Russ to make the deal happen, so it definitely wasn’t a blockbuster transaction by any stretch of the imagination. The Yankees had just DFA’d Hale, and were likely preparing to cut ties with him altogether. Klentak and the Phillies wanted first dibs at him, and Russ was a small price to pay.

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With that said, Hale really didn’t get much run upon arriving to Philadelphia. He made two quick (unsuccessful) appearances against the Nationals in late July, and then barely saw the diamond in August. He pitched just 6.1 innings, allowing eight hits and four earned runs. Albeit a small sample size, Hale definitely didn’t look the savvy veteran that Klentak thought he was acquiring.

However, as guys like Brandon Workman and Hector Neris slowly worked out of Joe Girardi’s favor down the stretch, Hale saw himself see some increased opportunity. Somewhat (un)surprisingly, he fared pretty darn well.

While his hits allowed were still higher than one would like (13), Hale recorded a 1.93 ERA through 9.1 innings in the month of September. His strikeout numbers were nothing special (7), but he did force an eye-popping 18 ground balls. In a bullpen that couldn’t stop itself from self-imploding every other day, Hale’s ability to simply get outs was a welcome sight.

Hale also showed off his ability as a long reliever/spot starter, recording a 3.1 inning outing against the Blue Jays when called upon. The Philadelphia Phillies are entering the 2021 season with what projects to be an extremely shallow pitching staff, so having Hale around for double-headers is definitely an added luxury.

Hale was brought back on a one-year/$850,000 contract, which is obviously an insanely good price. Even with Hale’s previous struggles during the 2020 season, the reliability that he showed down the stretch in September shouldn’t be overlooked. Give him a full 162-game season, and his career averages tell the story of someone who’ll give you more good outings than bad (4.23 career ERA).

Is Hale the type of guy who is going to overpower batters with electric stuff and an overpowering fastball, while dominating the 8th and 9th inning of ballgames? No probably not. However, he’s a seven year veteran who’s pitched at a high level in the American League. Considering the shape of the Phillies bullpen at the moment, he projects to be one of the team’s best options coming out of the ‘pen this year.

He’s not Brad Lidge, he’s not Ken Giles, he’s not even Jose Alvarez, but David Hale is a stable veteran who should be given the benefit of the doubt heading into 2021. After all, he may be a familiar name coming out of the ‘pen for the Phillies moving forward.