Phillies Claim José Urquidy

The Phillies announced that they have claimed right-hander José Urquidy off waivers from the White Sox. Chicago designated him for assignment earlier this week. To open a 40-man spot, Philadelphia transferred righty Caleb Kilian to the 60-day injured list.

Urquidy, 31, is a veteran depth starter these days. He was more than that a few years ago. From 2019 to 2022, he gave the Astros 342 innings over 63 appearances, 60 of those being official starts. In that span, he had a 3.74 earned run average, 20.3% strikeout rate and 5.2% walk rate. He scuffled a bit in 2023 and then Tommy John surgery wiped out most of his 2024 and 2025 seasons.

This year, he has mostly been in the minors. He has thrown 95 2/3 innings over 20 Triple-A starts with a 3.48 ERA, 20.8% strikeout rate and 5.3% walk rate. That performance led to some big league time with the Pirates and White Sox, though he hasn’t fared quite as well in the show, with a 5.28 ERA in 29 innings over 11 appearances. His 5.3% walk rate in that sample was quite strong but Urquidy only struck out 16% of batters faced.

For the Phillies, they are likely happy to get a decent arm with the capacity to eat multiple innings. Their rotation just took a blow when Jesús Luzardo hit the injured list with left shoulder inflammation. That left them with a four-man rotation of Cristopher Sánchez, Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Andrew Painter.

The options to fill in for Luzardo are pretty uninspiring. Alan Rangel is on the 40-man roster but has a 5.58 ERA in Triple-A this year. The Phils signed Nestor Cortes last month but he is still working his way back from last year’s arm surgery. He has made two rehab appearances this month. The most recent one lasted an inning and two thirds and saw Cortes get up to 32 pitches. It’s unclear if the Phils will fully stretch him out, as he only took two days off between appearances, which is more of a reliever’s timeline.

Non-roster options like Casey Lawrence, Tucker Davidson, Drake Fellows and Brian Keller have ERAs north of 5.00 for Triple Lehigh Valley this year. Kolby Allard is on the minor league injured list. Chuck King has good numbers but he’s a 28-year-old with no big league experience.

Add it all up and the Phils need someone who can eat some innings. That could be a spot start or maybe working as a bulk guy as part of a bullpen game. Time will tell how the Phils chop it up. Wheeler pitched yesterday. They have Nola taking the ball tonight and Sánchez is listed for Sunday’s game. Friday and Saturday are TBD. Painter will take one of those two but they will need a bullpen game or an Urquidy start in there as well.

Since this claim is happening after September 1, Urquidy won’t be eligible to join the Phillies in the postseason, but they can use him now. Once the playoffs roll around, the off-days will allow them to go with a three- or four-man rotation. Perhaps Luzardo will be back by then. Even if not, they can fill their playoff rotation with Wheeler, Sánchez, Nola and Painter.

As for Kilian, he landed on the 15-day IL August 10 with a left oblique strain. This moves ends his regular season. He could be reinstated by the NLCS if the Phillies make it that far and he’s recovered enough by then to be worthy of a roster spot.

Acquired from the Giants as part of the Luis Arraez trade, Kilian was only able to make four appearances for the Phils before hitting the IL. His 4.91 ERA on the year doesn’t look great but he put up a healthy 26.8% strikeout rate and a 48.4% ground ball rate. His 10.5% walk rate was a bit high but not by much. A 62.5% strand rate seemingly inflated his ERA. His 3.83 FIP and 3.51 SIERA paint a rosier picture. Even if he doesn’t make it back this year, he can still be retained for another five seasons after this one.