The MLB trade market continues to be active. On Saturday the Philadelphia Phillies landed Jeremy Hellickson from the Arizona Diamondbacks in an effort to deepen their rotation for 2016.
It's the second time Hellickson, 28, has been traded in the past year. The Tampa Bay Rays sent the right-hander to Arizona last November the season after he underwent arthroscopic elbow surgery. Hellickson went 9-12 with a 4.62 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and 121 strikeouts in 27 starts (146 innings) in 2015.
#Phillies have acquired RHP Jeremy Hellickson from ARI in exchange for minor league RHP Sam McWilliams.
— Phillies (@Phillies) November 14, 2015
#Dbacks acquire right-handed pitcher Sam McWilliams from the Phillies for right-handed pitcher Jeremy Hellickson.
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) November 14, 2015
The Diamondbacks will receive prospect right-hander Sam McWilliams in the swap. The 20-year-old just completed his second season in the minors with the rookie-level Gulf Coast League Phillies. McWilliams went 0-2 with a 3.27 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 4.20 KK/BB ratio in seven starts (33 innings) this past season. He was an eighth round draft pick in 2014.
Arizona will add McWilliams to their arsenal of minor league pitching that includes top prospects Aaron Blair, Braden Shipley, Yoan Lopez and Wei-Chieh Huang, according to Baseball America.
"Sam follows along the lines of what we've been doing for the last year, acquiring young power arms," general manager Dave Stewart said, via Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. "He's a high school draft pick that put up good numbers in the Gulf Coast League. He'll be a great addition to our organization."
Philadelphia's addition of Hellickson improves their rotation for 2016. That unit consists of youngsters Aaron Nola, Adam Morgan, Jared Eickhoff, David Buchanan and Alec Asher. Here's what general manager Matt Klentak said of the deal:
"This offseason we made it a priority to add a stabilizing influence to our young rotation, and we think we found that guy in Jeremy," Klentak told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. "I think one of the things on top of the obvious is that he's a veteran guy, but still just 28 years old. He'll pitch at 29 this season, so we're excited that he's still in his prime. And more than anything, he's a competitor. He wants the ball. We've talked about building an environment and we think he'll be a very positive influence on our staff."
Both the D-Backs and Phillies hope to improve next season after recording losing records in 2015.
