Phillies nearing decision on Noah Song, and only one pitcher knows the journey from Navy to the majors

Mitch Harris was Noah Song before Noah Song. In 2015, Harris became the first Naval Academy graduate since Nemo Gaines in 1921 to reach the majors despite being away from baseball for five years.

Phillies pitcher Noah Song during a spring training game against the Atlanta Braves in Clearwater, Fla., on March 14.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Scott Lauber

Published July 17, 2023, 1:32 p.m. ET

When Mitch Harris graduated from college and got drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals, his fastball crackled at 95 mph. But as he stood on a mound in spring training after five years — four years, eight months, and eight days, to be precise — of service in the Navy, he couldn’t guess how it would feel to pitch a baseball again.

“Quite frankly,” Harris said by phone, “it was embarrassing.”

So, upon hearing last week that Naval flight officer Noah Song was bound for double-A Reading — another step on a 30-day assignment that runs through July 28 and will lead to a spot on the Phillies’ major-league roster or an opportunity with another organization — Harris reached out. And he said he intends to keep reaching out whenever Song has a question or needs to talk.

Because in 2015, Harris became the first Naval Academy graduate in 94 years to reach the majors. At age 29. Seven years removed from getting drafted. After being deployed twice to the Persian Gulf and once to Russia and South America as a lieutenant.

All of which makes him the only person on the planet who is able to truly comprehend the degree of difficulty of what Song is doing.

“Let’s just call a spade a spade. There’s not many of us,” Harris said. “I’m going to be as open and vulnerable with him as I can be to help him out. I didn’t have anyone to talk to. No one understood, ‘Hey, what’s it feel like when you’re coming back from not playing for five years?’”

Well, what does it feel like?

‘Trying to walk again’

In February, after getting transferred from active duty to selective reserves, Song reported to spring training and described his first bullpen session as “like I was trying to walk again.” A month later, he went on the injured list with a lower back strain. And the Phillies, who plucked the 26-year-old righty from the Boston Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft last winter, haven’t made him available for interviews since.

But Harris, who met Song at an Army-Navy baseball game in 2019 at Fenway Park, experienced a similar fish-out-of-water feeling when, at long last, he finally made it back to baseball.

Like Song, Harris made multiple appeals to the Department of the Navy for a transfer to reserve duty, citing precedent in other sports, including former NBA star David Robinson. Each year, Harris’ baseball hopes dimmed. He had neither time nor suitable space aboard a ship at sea to simulate bullpen sessions.

“You had a flight deck that pitched and rolled,” said Harris, who occasionally threw to a fellow officer who would try to corral the ball before it went overboard.

Harris figured he would be ready to return to baseball as long as he stayed in peak condition. So, he worked out, cutting his body fat to 5%. But when the Navy granted his last request in 2013, he realized the difference between being in shape and being ready to pitch.

If Harris presumed that coming back to pitching would be akin to riding a bike, well, this must have been the Tour de France.

“I had minimal flexibility and was max-effort about 83-84 [mph],” Harris said. “I lost probably a good 10 mph on my fastball. It took time of long-toss, stretching, and just throwing to get it back. My stuff was not great. I had to relearn how to pitch just at the core.”

Harris also had to differentiate between the daily aches and pains of pitching and more worrisome issues that could be precursors to injury. It wasn’t always obvious considering his arm had been mostly inactive for five years. Sometimes, it was a guessing game.

Time wasn’t on Harris’ side, either. He progressed through the minors, where he often faced hitters who were much younger. But it wasn’t until a bullpen session midway through his second pro season, at double-A Springfield in 2014, that he began to think he might have a shot at the majors.

“Muscle memory just kind of clicked,” Harris said. “Things all just synced up — great action, good location. I was able to put things where I wanted. From that point, things really accelerated. Velocity came back, sharpness. A lot of things were happening.”

Following the Rule

Song has the double-edged wrinkle of being a Rule 5 draftee. He can’t be sent to the minors at the end of the rehab assignment. The Phillies must keep him on the major-league roster for the rest of the season or put him through waivers. If he clears, he would be offered back to the Red Sox, who didn’t want to lose him in the first place.

The Phillies could trade Song before the Aug. 1 deadline. But the Rule 5 limitations would carry over to a new team. He allowed one run on four hits and five walks with seven strikeouts in 4⅔ innings over four appearances with low-A Clearwater, then gave up one hit in 1⅓ scoreless innings for Reading last Friday. It’s likely he will get to triple A by next week.

On one hand, Song would benefit from a longer stay in the minors. Given the short window to build his arm strength, the Phillies are using him as a reliever. His heater, previously in the upper-90s, is in the 92-94 mph range — and rising. His control comes and goes, as you would expect from a pitcher who hasn’t pitched since 2019.

But on the other hand, the Rule 5 designation could be the best mechanism for making up for lost time by hastening his path to the majors.

“The thing that I’m going to keep telling him is, ‘Hey, at the end of the day, if you make it to the big leagues with Philly, awesome. But if you have to go back to Boston, you still have an opportunity to make it to the big leagues with Boston,’” Harris said. “His talent is what’s going to get him there, not necessarily the fact that he’s a Rule 5. That’s just a stepping stone and a quicker one, but it’s not the only way to do it. That’s how I’m going to encourage him.”

Harris posted a 3.67 ERA in 26 games for the Cardinals in 2015 but injured his elbow and had surgery to repair a ligament. He retired after trying to come back in 2017. For six years, he has worked in wealth management for Merrill Lynch.

“Would I like to have played more? Absolutely,” Harris said. “But the chances were that I wasn’t even supposed to make it, and we did and I was very proud of that.”

And now, he’s reliving it all again through Song.

“Shoot, he’s got more talent than I ever had,” Harris said. “It’s exciting to see where he can go. I’ve told him my phone’s always open, even if it’s 12:30 [a.m.] after a game. My wish is that I can help him have success and get to the big leagues and have a long, healthy career. If I can help him do that, man, I’d love to.”