The Phillies gave the one-time prospect one more chance in 2015. It went poorly.
I’ve written before that all things considered; Phillippe Aumont might be the worst Phillie ever. There were other players who had brief, awful stints with the Phillies, and some who put up fewer wins above replacement. But factoring in how they acquired him, and how sharply his star declined, I think Aumont has a definite claim for being the absolute worst.
You likely remember the story: When the Phillies couldn’t come to an agreement on an extension for Cliff Lee after the 2009 season, they quickly pivoted to trading for Roy Halladay. Because ownership didn’t want fans to get excited about the prospect of having both Halladay and Lee in their rotation, they simultaneously traded Lee to the Mariners. It isn’t clear if the return of Aumont, Tyson Gillies, and JC Ramirez was truly the best they could get, or if they just wanted to make the quickest deal they could, and senior adviser Pat Gillick happened to be familiar with the Seattle system.
It was easy to see the appeal of Aumont, as he was tall (6’7”) and threw hard. He was also Canadian and may have been the most Canadian looking pitcher to ever step foot on a pitcher’s mound.
Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images
He had been serving as a reliever in the Mariners’ system, but the Phillies expressed hope that Aumont could be a starting pitcher. It wasn’t a good sign that by the end of 2010, the Phillies switched him back to a bullpen role. Still, he was able to make the big leagues in 2012 as a reliever, and by the end of that season, he was getting late inning opportunities.
2012 Phillies Exit Interview: Phillippe Aumont http://t.co/ub7DpE2I
— The Good Phight (@TheGoodPhight) December 5, 2012
His time as a high leverage reliever was brief. He got off to a poor start in 2013 and was demoted to the minors by the end of May. He spent the rest of that season and the following one bouncing between the majors and minors, never looking all that great at either level. His problem – and this is a big one for a pitcher – is that between hits and walks, he allowed far too many baserunners.
A large part of his struggles appeared to be mental. He claimed to be confused by the Phillies coaches, while pitching coach Rich Dubee said the problem was that Aumont didn’t listen.
Haven’t heard Dubee be this critical about a pitcher since Kendrick years ago. He implied Aumont isn’t listening.
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) July 9, 2013
By 2015, the Phillies were running out of patience. They decided that since the reliever thing wasn’t working out, maybe they’d give him one more chance as a starter. This switch seemed to remove whatever traces of command he once possessed. He began walking batters with impunity, and in one five inning outing, issued eight free passes.
Somehow, despite the walks, he wasn’t a complete disaster. Perhaps he had learned to be effectively wild, or perhaps he was just lucky. (Most likely the latter.) But when the Phillies needed a starter to face the Cardinals on June 19th, they and decided to see if Aumont’s effective wildness would translate to the majors.
It did not.
A quick review of his night:
Inning one: Walked one in an otherwise clean inning. So far, so good.
Inning two: Immediately gave up a double followed by a Yadier Molina home run. He rebounded to retire the next two batters, but a single and Kolten Wong home run made it 4-0. At this point, his control really fell off. He walked the next two batters but got the third out to strand them.
Oh, and there are 2 out in the 2nd inning and Phillippe Aumont is already at 50 pitches. FIFTY PITCHES.
— John Stolnis (@JohnStolnis) June 19, 2015
Inning three: Walked two more, but a ground ball double play kept the Cardinals from scoring.
Inning four: Walked two of the first three batters – with a wild pitch mixed in – and this time, he could not escape. Jhonny Peralta hit a two-run double to make it 6-0.
Aumont’s night – and his major league career – ended after that inning. His line on the night: Four innings, five hits, six earned runs, seven walks, and three strikeouts.
The following week, the Phillies released him. He spent the next few years bouncing around organizations as well as independent leagues, but the command problems persisted, and he never returned to the majors. He did spend time as a member of the Canadian national team, which speaks to the level of natural talent they have north of the border.
The trade of Cliff Lee to Seattle was considered a bad move at the time. By the time Aumont left the mound on June 19, 2015, it was officially cemented as an all-time disaster.