What should the Philadelphia Phillies do with Spencer Howard in 2021?

Heading into the 2020 season, the much anticipated debut of Spencer Howard was one of the most talked about Philadelphia Phillies storylines out there. Not only was he the team’s highest ranked pitching prospect at the time, but he was also expected to immediately come in and contribute during a season where the Phillies were desperately pushing for the playoffs.

Prior to his first season as a major league arm, many projections had him ultimately becoming better than both Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola somewhere down the line.

The hard-throwing righty made his MLB debut on August 14th, and while he did end up showing bursts of potential across his first six starts, they were nothing close to what some of the expectations initially were. Howard finished 2020 with a 5.92 ERA across 24.1 innings.

Albeit a super small sample size, it was still a tad disappointing considering just how good someone like Sixto Sanchez was pitching for the NL East rival Marlins.

What should the Philadelphia Phillies do with Spencer Howard in 2021?

Howard’s debut season was also ultimately cut short due to injury, as some nagging shoulder stiffness/soreness shut him down midway through September. There was some talk of him being available for the postseason as a bullpen arm should the Phillies had made it, but obviously that did not happen.

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While Howard didn’t have the 2020 that many of us had hoped for, there’s still little reason to panic when it comes to his longterm outlook. His strikeout numbers were still pretty high for a first-year rookie (8.5 K/9), and a lot of his issues seemed to simply stem from a lack of conditioning.

Considering the Philadelphia Phillies overall lack of pitching depth, plenty of people had Howard penciled in as the team’s solidified #4 starter heading into the offseason.

However, Dave Dombrowski (somewhat surprisingly) has already signed two starting pitchers, and reportedly has plans of adding a third. With so much competition being added to the starting rotation, there now becomes a very real possibility that Howard isn’t used as a regular starter in 2021.

Howard could be rotated in as a spot starter when need be, he could be used as a bullpen piece, and he could even start off the year down in AAA as he continues to rehab his shoulder and build up his conditioning.

Whatever the team’s plan is at the moment, Dombrowski was unwilling to divulge it during a recent media session. However, he definitely didn’t talk as if Howard was a lock for a rotation spot in the near future:

Whatever the Phillies end up deciding upon during Spring Training, some sort of plan definitely needs to be constructed for Spencer Howard in the short-term. He’s such a talented young pitcher, and it’d be shame to see him wasted due to minor issues like conditioning and consistency.