Notre Dame Baseball: Five former Notre Dame players to watch in Spring Training
By Matt Clark
David Phelps, who played for Notre Dame’s baseball team from 2005-2007, begins the 2020 Major League Baseball season with a new team. On January 30th, it was announced that Phelps had signed a one-year deal worth $1.25 million with the Milwaukee Brewers. The deal has a club option for the 2021 season worth $4.5 million.
Phelps was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 14th round of the 2008 draft after Yankees scouting director Damon Oppenheimer watched him pitch with the Irish while he was scouting former Notre Dame standout pitcher Kyle Weiland.
After being named the minor league pitcher of the year for the Yankees in 2010, the team added Phelps to the 40-man roster ahead of the 2011 season. He wouldn’t be called up by New York until he was named to the Opening Day roster in 2012.
A former starter and reliever for the Irish, Phelps would oscillate between spot starter and long reliever for the Yankees from 2012-2014. In December of 2014, he would be traded to the Miami Marlins along with Martin Prado, in a deal that would return Nathan Eovaldi, Garrett Jones, and Domingo German to the Yankees.
Phelps would pitch for the Marlins from 2015-2017, serving as a relief pitcher with the club. He would serve as the primary setup man for the Marlins during the 2016 season. At the 2017 trade deadline, Miami would trade Phelps to the Seattle Mariners in exchange for three prospects.
During spring training in 2018, Phelps would tear his ulnar collateral ligament, causing him to require Tommy John surgery and to miss the entire 2018 season. He would sign with the Toronto Blue Jays before the 2019 season but would be traded to the Chicago Cubs at the trade deadline.
Last season Phelps would have a 2-1 record in 41 games with the Blue Jays and Cubs combined, amassing a 3.41 earned run average in 34 1/3 innings pitched, with 36 strikeouts and a 1.34 WHIP.
The right-handed Phelps possesses a four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, cutter and changeup in his pitching arsenal. He is expected to compete for a role in the middle of the bullpen this season for the Brewers.