Phillies release former No. 1 overall pick Mark Appel
The Philadelphia Phillies announced Monday afternoon that RHP Mark Appel has been released by the team.
Seemingly aware of his baseball mortality, Appel put out a lengthy thread on Twitter Sunday, eventually announcing he had started a blog:
The Houston Astros made Appel the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 MLB Draft, a class that also included Kris Bryant, Tim Anderson and Aaron Judge.
Appel was acquired by the Phillies in a December 2015 trade that sent Ken Giles to Houston and also allowed the Phillies to land Vince Velasquez. It was the first trade of the Matt Klentak Era, and perhaps ended up defining the former general manager’s stint at the helm of the team.
After struggling physically in 2016 and 2017, Appel walked away from the sport. He returned in 2021, splitting the season between Double-A Reading and Triple-A Lehigh Valley as a reliever. He finally made his Major League Debut in 2022 at the age of 30, posting a 1.74 ERA in six appearances for the Phillies.
It’s unclear at this time what Appel’s future in baseball is. He posted a 3.15 ERA in 31 games for the IronPigs in 2022, so one would think some organization would have interest in him as at least a Triple-A reliever.
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