March 10, 2026

Phillies season preview: Who'll claim the final bullpen spots?

There's a competition between the new additions at the bottom of the Phillies' bullpen for the last few spots. Who's leading the way?

By Geoff Mosher
PhillyVoice Staff

Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images

Phillies new reliever Jonathan Bowlan is off to a good start this spring as he hopes to emerge in the remade Phils bullpen.

Who says there are no more job competitions at spring training?

There's plenty of competition in Clearwater at Phillies camp for the final few spots of a bullpen that President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski hopes to finally have solved after years of that group falling short of expectations, especially in the playoffs.

Dombrowski made several moves this offseason to upgrade the pen, and the first five are locked into their spots. Jhoan Duran will be the closer. Brad Keller, one of the offseason adds, will be the righty setup man. José Alvarado, back for his sixth season, will be the lefty setup.

Right-hander Orion Kerkering and lefty Tanner Banks will have plenty of opportunities in the sixth and seventh innings for holds or to keep the Phillies hanging on during close games.

That leaves three spots up for grabs between righties Zach Pop, Jonathan Bowlan, Zach McCambley, Seth Johnson and Max Lazar, along with left-hander Kyle Backhus.

Bowlan and Backhus came over in trades. Pop was signed on a cost-efficient one-year deal. McCambley, from North Jersey, was a Rule 5 pick, meaning he would have to be waived and first offered back to the Marlins before the Phillies could send him to the minors.

All of these arms will get plenty of more opportunities to compete for those spots, especially with Keller out of camp as he represents Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.

Let's check in to see how they've fared so far:

Pitcher	Innings Pitched	ERA	WHIP	Ks	Opp. BA
Zach Pop	3.1	10.80	1.80	2	.286
Jonathan Bowlan	2.0	4.50	1.00	4	.250
Zach McCambley	5.0	1.80	1.60	3	.200
Kyle Backhus (L)	4.0	0.00	0.75	3	.154
Seth Johnson	5.2	1.59	1.24	2	.158
Max Lazar	3.0	3.00	2.00	2	.274

There's still more than two weeks to go, but as of now, the leaders in the clubhouse would appear to be Backhus, Bowlan and McCambley.

Backhus, 28, was very likely to make the team anyway because he's the third lefty, with a dizzying three-quarter delivery that can cause headaches for batters, especially left-handed hitters. He pitched 32 innings last season with Arizona in his debut pro year, and lefties slashed .139/.225/.278 against him in 36 at-bats.

Bowlan, 29, acquired from Kansas City in the Matt Strahm deal, has shown major swing-and-miss stuff, with four strikeouts in 2 innings compared to Seth Johnson's two strikeouts in 5.2 innings.

McCambley, 26, has the second-lowest batting average against than all the other right-handers except for Johnson.

Depth and future

Whoever gets the final spot – long man duty – is probably just a placeholder for Taijuan Walker, who will start the season in the rotation but move into the bullpen when Zack Wheeler is ready for his debut.

Only if the Phillies have another injury in the rotation would Walker stick as a starter, and he's too expensive to cut as he's in the final year of a four-year, $72-million contract.

In the pipeline, the Phillies went pitcher-happy in last year's draft, including first-round pick Gage Wood. The organization had made it clear it views Wood as a starter, but with no real opening in the rotation, Wood could potentially help the bullpen later in the season if he moves quickly through the system this summer.