Michael Stutes

Stutes almost won a job last spring but found himself in the majors by the end of April anyway when injuries hit the Phillies' bullpen. He established himself as a reliable option in short order and was frequently used in high leverage situations. Stutes wore down toward the end of the season, however, and began having problems locating his pitches. He'll open the year likely working the sixth and seventh innings for the Phillies. He still needs to do some work cutting back on the free passes but his solid strikeout rate helps compensate for that.

Stutes finished last year 7-1 with a 3.42 ERA and a 79:44 K:BB ratio in 76.1 innings between Double-A and Triple-A. The K/9 ratio for Stutes is solid enough but the walks are a touch high. He'll need to cut back on the free passes in order to improve his stock as a relief prospect. The Phillies have given Stutes an invite to spring training but we expect he'll be back in the minors to start the 2011 season.