Meet Michael Mercado, a reliever with ‘big league stuff’ who could contribute to the Phillies this year

CLEARWATER, Fla. — When the Phillies acquired right-handed pitcher Michael Mercado from the Tampa Bay Rays in November, the trade didn’t get much attention. Mercado has no big-league experience. He is 24 with a 4.81 career minor-league ERA. He has allowed 29 home runs over his last two seasons.

But it has since become clear why many in the organization are bullish on him. A few weeks ago, Mercado threw live batting practice to a few hitters at BayCare Ballpark. He faced Wes Wilson, Johan Rojas, and Garrett Stubbs.

His stuff looked sharp. Mercado’s extension and height — he is 6-foot-4 — made the at-bats even more uncomfortable. He showed good command. As they were walking off the field, Wilson overheard a few coaches talking.

“Everybody was like, ‘How has this dude never pitched in the big leagues?’ ” Wilson said.

Stubbs agreed.

“Big-league stuff,” he said. “He’s a guy, to me, that looks like he could come help us at some point this year.”

Mercado’s upside is high, but there is a reason he hasn’t made it to the show yet. There are parts of his game that need refining. His walk rates are above average (12.2% in 2023 and 14.6% in 2022). The 29 home runs allowed might be caused, in part, by some bad luck, but they also show a need for better pitch sequencing.

The stuff is there, though — to the tune of a 32.6% strikeout rate in 2023 — and the Phillies are encouraging Mercado to trust it. Last week, the righty stepped onto the mound at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla., to pitch the seventh inning of a Grapefruit League game against the Tigers. Shortstop Eddys Leonard was at the plate. Mercado threw his four-seam fastball just outside the zone, and Leonard fouled it off.

Mercado’s fastball is his best pitch. It sits in the 95-97 mph range and has lots of vertical break. The hitter is expecting to see the ball dip down on an arc, but instead, Mercado’s ball stays on a plane. It almost looks like it’s rising a little bit. It’s tricky to pick up.

The reliever began to overthink. He worried that if Leonard fouled off his fastball once, he’d make contact a second time. So he threw Leonard his cutter. Leonard took it 407 feet deep for a solo home run.

At the end of Mercado’s outing, director of pitching development Brian Kaplan approached him in the dugout.

“He was like, ‘Let these guys prove to you that they can catch up to your fastball,’ ” Mercado said. “ ‘Don’t give the hitters too much credit here.’ The gist was that even if that guy fouls you back, make him try to hit it again.”

Mercado listened. In his next outing, against the Orioles on Tuesday, he threw four straight fastballs past outfielder Kyle Stowers in the seventh. Stowers struck out. A few moments later, he threw four fastballs and one cutter to Diego Castillo, who had the same fate.

It wasn’t until Mercado’s third batter that he began to mix things up. Orioles catcher Michael Pérez saw some cutters and curveballs but grounded out to end the inning. Mercado pitched the eighth, allowing one hit — a single to Jackson Holliday — and finished with three strikeouts through two innings.

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“Kap’s advice helped me,” he said afterward. “That felt effortless.”

This was the type of role the Phillies had in mind when they traded for Mercado. He is a starter-turned-reliever who can pitch multiple innings. He has a big arsenal — a fastball, a curveball, a split-change, and a cutter — which enables him to keep hitters on their toes. Pitching coach Caleb Cotham compares him to Matt Strahm.

“I think he could start and relieve,” Cotham said. “He’s definitely got the skills of throwing strikes that feel like a starter. I think, right now, he’s a pretty cool and interesting swingman-bulk type of guy. Multi-inning, two-plus. It’s nice a thing to have, those types of guys that you can shoot into the starting role or pull back to the one inning.

“I think he can do a lot of different things. He feels like one of those guys who is similar to a right-handed Strahm. He’s got weapons for both sides, there’s a lot of control, and, at times, a lot of command. I think he could do that [swingman role] pretty easy.”

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The key for Mercado will be getting the walk rate and the home run rate down. He believes that the transition to the bullpen contributed to his spike in walks. His velocity increased, and he had trouble controlling it.

But now that Mercado is entering his second full season as a reliever, he feels more comfortable in the 95-97-mph range. The Phillies believe that better pitch sequencing will help him, too.

“His fastball is very good, so I think we should throw it enough,” Cotham said. “But, if you see them all the time, hitters are better at hitting good fastballs than they are at good sliders, good breaking balls, good splits. So, I think it’s [more] when do you mix and when do you not? When is a hitter telling you [to] just keep going fastball, and when is a hitter telling you to maybe do something else? It’s not about giving them too much credit, but also noticing when they do deserve a little respect.”

The Phillies have an opening in their bullpen for this type of role. Mercado will have to show much more than four spring training outings to earn a spot, but he’s on the 40-man roster, and, as Stubbs said, it’s not hard to see him contributing later on.

The reliever says he is ready.

“My goal for this year is to debut and say that I’ve helped the Phillies out in 2024,” he said. “It is the highest level, but if you don’t have confidence in yourself, and believe that you can do it, you’ll never be able to.”