A healthy Seranthony Dominguez could completely change the Phillies bullpen in 2022
The Phillies bullpen has been everything but good over the past few seasons. In 2020, they ended the COVID-shortened season with a 7.06 ERA and last year, although better, still blew a league-leading 34 saves and had a collective 4.60 ERA, sixth worst in the MLB.
With a handful of offseason moves heading into the 2022 season, the Phillies are hoping that their new-look bullpen will be able to change their string of bad seasons and lot of that will fall on the success of Seranthony Dominguez.
Dominguez appeared in 53 games during his rookie 2018 season. He pitched 58 innings and had a 2.95 ERA with a 0.93 WHIP.
In 2019, Dominguez appeared in only 27 games before heading to the injury list and held a 4.01 ERA with a 1.46 WHIP in just over 24 innings pitched.
Everything was a mess from that point forward.
Dominguez was caught up in COVID-19 issues in 2020 and was unable to travel and get any type of elective surgeries, delaying his entire recovery process. He spent the majority of the 2021 season rehabbing in the minor leagues and only appeared in one game at the major league level at the very end of the season.
Typically when someone has Tommy John surgery, you never know what to expect, and even more so when the entire process has taken over nearly three years. Still, before the MLB lockout, the Phillies avoided arbitration with Dominguez and signed him to a one-year, $725,000.
Yesterday, we saw the 27-year old Seranthony Dominguez take the mound in his Spring Training debut. Dominguez struck out the side on 14 pitches and was hitting 96-97 mph on the radar gun. Dominguez powered through three straight Tigers hitters, throwing 12-of-14 pitches for strikes.
Just looking at Dominguez in the two videos above, the first being from August 2021 and second yesterday, he clearly put in a ton of work over the offseason. Other reports confirmed that he dropped nearly 40 pounds, going from 238 to 199 over the winter.
With a bullpen that now consists of closer Corey Knebel, veteran setup men Jeurys Familia and Brand Hand, and a few familiar faces in Jose Alvarado, Connor Brogdon, and Sam Coonrod, there’s reason to believe that Seranthony Dominguez has the opportunity to play a major role in The Phillies ‘pen this season.
Seranthony Dominguez Spring Training Debut
As Phillies fans, we have been plagued by a bad bullpen long enough. It’s been so bad that I literally watched the Dominguez inning from yesterday’s Spring Training game on repeat praying that we see roughly 50 more innings of that type of performance throughout the season.
I totally understand that yesterday was his first outing and it’s only Spring Training but getting a healthy Dominguez back and close to his rookie season form would be a huge difference maker for the Phillies and could jumpstart a change in mindset inside their bullpen.
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[…] much of an issue. Seranthony Dominguez returning to the field for the Phillies will be one of the biggest keys to this season. Getting a dominant arm to put in front of Knebel will finally give the Phillies a […]