By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor
Two days after trimming their major league camp to 55 players, the Phillies "cut" five more, with just 17 days remaining until Opening Day.
On Monday, the club optioned 40-man roster members LHP Austin Davis, RHP Enyel De Los Santos, and RHP Edgar Garcia to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, while non-roster invitee southpaws Cole Irvin and Tyler Gilbert were reassigned to minor-league camp. Garcia was among the three players the Phillies selected the contracts of in late November, protecting them from the Rule 5 draft.
Among the five pitchers, Garcia, the club's No. 28-ranked prospect, had the lowest ERA (2.57), opposing batting average (.125) and WHIP (.71), along with the most strikeouts (10). With the second roster cuts of spring training, the following 15 players remain in major league camp as non-roster invitees:
- LHP: Jeremy Bleich, Edward Paredes
- RHP: Josh Martin
- C: Rob Brantly, Drew Butera, Matt McBride
- INF: Phil Gosselin, Gift Ngoepe, Gregorio Petit, Trevor Plouffe, Sean Rodriguez, Andrew Romine
- OF: Lane Adams, Adam Haseley, Shane Robinson
The Phillies must "cut," or reassign 25 more players before finalizing their Opening Day, 25-man roster. The club fell 8-2 to the Tampa Bay Rays in Bryce Harper's right field Phillies debut earlier on Monday; he struck out and walked once each spanning his two plate appearances.