Hamstrung in May and homer-prone in July, the Dodgers saves leader on the season recovered with a strong final three months, including no runs allowed in October
A pair of injuries cut into his time on the mound in 2024, but Evan Phillips persevered to finish third on the Dodgers in games pitched, and recovered from a midseason slump to be one of the team’s most trusted relief pitchers down the stretch and into October.
Phillips got off to a strong start, allowing runs in only three of his first 25 appearances, though that was interrupted by a four-week stint on the injured list with a right hamstring strain that wiped out nearly his entire May.
He had a 1.82 ERA at the end of June and successfully converted his first 14 save attempts, but ran into trouble in July. Phillips allowed four home runs in a six-appearance stretch over three weeks, including a stunning two-run shot during giveaway weekend in Detroit, when the Dodgers blew a five-run lead in the ninth inning on July 13.
Phillips allowed only two other home runs on the season.
For his career, Phillips has been mostly a neutral pitcher with limited platoon splits, but this season left-handers hit him relatively hard, .253/.320/.448 compared to just .217/.269/.317 for right-handers.
Overall, Phillips threw his signature sweeper and cutter less often in 2024 compared to 2023, while increasing his four-seam fastball usage, such that he threw his fastball nearly as often (36.5 percent) as his sweeper (38.6 percent) this year. The cutter was hit hard, with a .265 batting average and .471 slugging percentage in at-bats that ended on that pitch.
Phillips phased the cutter out down the stretch, throwing it just 7.1 percent of the time in August and September, after using it 16.5 percent of the time in the first four months. In total, Phillips had a 2.82 ERA and 2.18 FIP over the final two months of the season.
He carried that into the postseason with five more scoreless outings in the NLDS and NLCS combined.
The hamstring issue wasn’t the only injury Phillips dealt with this year. After feeling something during Game 6 of the NLCS, the right-hander was left off the World Series roster with nerve irritation in his right shoulder. Still, Phillips appeared in 61 games in the regular season and is one of just 19 pitchers in the majors to pitch in 60 or more games in each of the last three seasons.
2024 particulars
Age: 29
Stats: 3.62 ERA, 3.27 xERA, 18 saves, 54⅔ IP, 17 BB, 63 K
Salary: $4 million
Game of the year
Phillips was the first Dodger dawg out of the bullpen gate in Game 5 of the NLDS, entering with only a 1-0 lead over San Diego and the season in the balance. He pitched a scoreless sixth inning with one strikeout, then remained in the game for the seventh, striking out both Jurickson Profar and Manny Machado. Phillips left the his longest outing of the season with a thunderous roar.
Evan and Alex shut ’em down! pic.twitter.com/Xoy5TPF0XX
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 12, 2024
During the regular season, Phillips pitched in multiple innings only once in his 61 appearances, a four-out save on April 2 against San Francisco at home. But in the postseason, four of Phillips’ five outings involved recording at least four outs, and he earned the win in Games 4 of both the NLDS and NLCS, both planned bullpen games.
Phillips did not permit a run to be scored in his 6⅔ innings this October, and in his four postseasons with the Dodgers has pitched 15⅓ scoreless frames, with eight of his 12 outings lasting longer than one inning.
Roster status
Phillips has four years, 136 days of major league service time, and is eligible for salary arbitration for the third of potential four such years this winter. The folks at MLB Trade Rumors projected a $6.2 million salary for Phillips in 2025, representing a 55-percent increase over this season.