The Phillies announced on Wednesday that righty pitcher Mark Appel had undergone surgery to remove a bone spur from his throwing elbow. Appel had previously gone on the disabled list with shoulder soreness following his May 22nd start for Lehigh Valley.
Phillies director of player development Joe Jordan told me recently that Appel was throwing pain free and the team expected him to be back in action by July 15th.
IronPigs manager Dave Brundage stated that he suspected there was more to Appel’s physical issues than just the sore shoulder.
“Something had to be bothering him, something had to be there, where his stuff had dropped off, you know, his last couple outings, had dropped off significantly,” Brundage stated. “I had a hard time believing it was just out of the stretch. It was something more and obviously he was putting a lot of effort into his pitches there and it’s a tough break for him, but obviously, you can get (the elbow) cleaned up and get him back on track.”
In eight games this season, Appel tallied a 3-3 record with a 4.46 ERA and a .267 batting average against for Triple-A Lehigh Valley. In his last two appearances, he surrendered seven hits, six walks and seven earned runs in 6 1/3 total innings.
The procedure is expected to keep the 24-year-old out of action for four to six months, which will end his 2016 season.
Appel was acquired from Houston as part of the Ken Giles trade last off-season.
Cam Perkins, image- Jay Floyd
Also announced for the IronPigs on Wednesday was a trio of players being honored as International League All-Stars.
Reliever Edward Mujica, catcher Andrew Knapp and outfielder Cam Perkins will all represent the IronPigs in the exhibition, set to take place in Charlotte, NC on July 13th.
Mujica, who was a big league All-Star with St. Louis in 2013, posted a 0-3 record with a 4.09 ERA and 19 saves in 31 games out of the Lehigh Valley bullpen this season.
Knapp, the Phils’ 2nd round pick out of Cal in 2013, sported a .262 average with seven homers and 29 RBI in 60 games this season.
Perkins, who was the Phillies’ 6th round draft selection out of Purdue in 2012, was batting .292 with four home runs and 26 RBI through 63 games, entering action on Wednesday.
The righty batting 25-year-old spoke about the honor and representing the ‘Pigs as an All-Star.
“I’m excited. I think every player wants to get it. We don’t play for the individual awards and things like that, but they’re nice to get every once in a while. I’m pretty excited about it,” Perkins stated.
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