Phillies to select former No. 1 overall pick Mark Appel

The Phillies are selecting the contract of right-handed pitcher Mark Appel, interim manager Rob Thomson told reporters in San Diego on Friday. In a corresponding move, Connor Brogdon is going on the COVID-19 injured list.

Appel, 30, has a 1.61 ERA in 28 innings at Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2022. He returned to the Phillies organization prior to the 2021 season. Injuries and personal struggles took its toll and Appel stepped away from professional baseball for three full seasons in 2017.

“…Probably by the end of the 2018 season – it’s weird because I wasn’t playing so it didn’t feel like a season – I was starting to kind of question what would it take for me to play again,” Appel said in March 2021. “It seemed clear that I still had a desire and I wanted to figure out how to get healthy.”

He informed Phillies assistant general manager Ned Rice that he’s interested in returning to the game in November 2020. A few months later, Appel, who was originally acquired by the Phillies in the Ken Giles trade in 2015, reported to Clearwater and spent the season splitting time between Double A and Triple A. He came back to the game with the desire to have fun, something he admitted to struggling with in his first stint in professional baseball.

Nearly nine years after being selected by his hometown Houston Astros with the No. 1 overall pick, he’s finally heading to the Show.

Completely overwhelmed. I have so many thoughts I want to share but can’t find the words, so I’ll just say this:

I’m thankful.

Today, I get to play a game I love as a Major League Baseball player.

LET’S GOOOOO @PHILLIES!!!!

— Mark Appel (@markappel26) June 25, 2022

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