The Philadelphia Phillies have had quite a few injuries pile up in recent days, between Max Kepler (back), Brandon Marsh (knee) and Matt Strahm (shoulder). However, there is new positive news regarding the latter of the bunch, as Strahm has been improving and showing signs of recovery.
In a report by Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer, he noted that the All-Star reliever just completed a bullpen session and that he is now pain-free.
Additionally, Strahm said bouncing back and being ready for Opening Day would be the “big test.” Lauber notes that Opening Day at this point is not out of the question, which is a good sign for Strahm’s recovery timeline.
This is positive since any throwing shoulder injury will draw some immediate concerns, especially with spring training coming to an end soon.
Strahm has been a vital piece to this Phillies bullpen in recent years, and in 2024, his success hit unprecedented levels with his first All-Star Game nod for his production.
Last season, he had a near career-low 1.87 ERA, with an extremely impressive 0.750 WHIP, along with 79 strikeouts to 11 walks (7.18 SO/BB), three saves and only four home runs allowed in 62.2 innings pitched.
This is a far cry from any of his previous showings where he usually resided in the 3.00-5.00 ERA range.
Two of the outliers were his rookie season in 2016 where he pitched 22.0 innings for a 1.23 ERA, and 2020 where he went 20.2 innings for a 2.61 ERA.
Now, Philadelphia has an exceptional bullpen surrounding him, with Jordan Romano being added this offseason, Orion Kerkering improving year-over-year and flamethrower José Alvarado adding more velocity to his game in search of a bounce back campaign.
In a few seasons, this has gone from a bullpen that was having a hard time closing out games to a group that may be one of the best in baseball if everything can click.
Having Strahm is going to be a critical part of that, though, and in coming days it will be something to monitor to see whether or not he begins to ramp up his recovery and work towards live batters in game to be ready for Opening Day.
Regardless, making those first few steps towards full-scale pitching is huge, and hopefully it prevents him from starting out the season on the injured list.
