The Phillies acquired 31 year old Dylan Covey on Saturday with a waiver claim from the Dodgers. He’s made 45 starts in his major league career and has appeared in 72 big league games with the White Sox, Red Sox and Dodgers.
Originally selected by the Brewers in the first round of the 2010 draft from Maranatha High School in Pasadena, California he instead opted to attend college and played for San Diego University. In 2013 he was selected in the fourth round by the Oakland Athletics.
The White Sox selected him in the rule 5 draft in 2016 and he made their opening day roster the following spring. He pitched three seasons with Chicago before being designated and granted free agency. Covey signed with the Tampa Rays for the 2020 season and during the Covid shortened season was on their 60 man extended roster but didn’t appear in a major league game. He was traded by the Rays to the Red Sox and pitched in eight major league games with Boston in 2020. The following year he pitched with Rakuten in the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Taiwan making ten starts and returned there for the 2021 season making 23 starts and pitching 140 innings.
This past off season he signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers and made seven appearances (six starts) for AAA level Oklahoma City accumulating 32 innings, in need of an innings eater for a game he was called to the major leagues by the Dodgers on May 17th and pitched four innings for them that night against the Twins (two runs, five hits, one walk and three strikeouts). The Dodgers designated him for assignment (he’s out of minor league options) on May 18th and the Phillies won a waiver claim two days later.
Now he likely gets a chance to fill a similar role for the Phillies on Tuesday either as the starter or bulk reliever against the Arizona Diamondbacks. If he does well then the opportunity will extend. He sits at 90-93 mph and occasionally touches 94-95 with his fastball and also throws a slider, curve and changeup.
Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️
