Phillies Place Caleb Kilian On Injured List

The Phillies announced Monday that one of their deadline additions is headed to the injured list. Righty Caleb Kilian has been diagnosed with a strained left oblique and is now on the 15-day injured list. Right-hander Chase Shugart is up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley to take his spot on the active roster.

Kilian, 29, came to Philadelphia alongside infielder Luis Arraez in a deal headlined by pitching prospect Ramon Marquez. He’s made four appearances with his new club, with one particularly brutal outing skewing his short time there. Kilian was rocked for four earned runs in just one-third of an inning against the Nationals on Aug. 5. That ugly outing ballooned his season ERA to 4.91 in 47 2/3 frames.

In many ways, that’s a microcosm of Kilian’s whole season. More than half of the 30 runs he’s yielded this season (16) have come in just four outings. He’s been solid more often than not, but Kilian’s bad appearances this season have had a habit of snowballing on him.

This year’s 47 2/3 innings are a career-high for Kilian, a 2019 eighth-rounder whom the Giants traded to the Cubs for Kris Bryant and then reacquired as a minor league free agent in the winter. He’s fanned 26.8% of his opponents this year — backed by a strong 12.3% swinging-strike rate — but issued walks at a 10.5% clip as well. That walk rate isn’t so egregious that Kilian can’t make it work with strong strikeout and grounder numbers, but he’s struggled mightily with men on base, as evidenced by a 62.5% strand rate that’s about 10 percentage points worse than league average.

The Phils haven’t said how long Kilian will miss, but even Grade 1 oblique strains can sideline players for around a month. The Phillies are now down one of two deadline additions to the bullpen. The other, Brooks Raley, hasn’t had the smoothest start with his new club but has a strong track record in Queens.