The former 'fifth ace' of the 2011 Phillies' rotation has decided to come out of retirement, according to MLB Trade Rumors' Tim Dierkes. Dierkes adds that the 34-year-old right hander will be holding an open workout and bullpen session for teams on February 4th in the Nashville, Tennessee area, and that Blanton is 'healthy and motivated to pitch this year'.
Blanton had retired last April after being released from a second go-around with the Oakland Athletics. The A's were his first Major League team, as he was drafted by them in the first round, 24th overall, in the 2002 amateur draft. He was acquired by the Phillies on July 17, 2008 in exchange for Matthew Spencer, Adrian Cardenas, and Josh Outman, in an effort to upgrade the back-end of their rotation.
In five seasons while wearing red pinstripes, Blanton went 34-25 with a 4.47 ERA in 616.1 innings (306 earned runs). He is most remembered in Philadelphia not for his arm, however, but rather his bat. In Game 4 of the 2008 World Series, he hit his first career home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend the Phillies' lead to 6-2.
Blanton became the 13th pitcher to homer in a World Series game, the first since Ken Holtzman in Game 4 of the 1974 World Series with the Oakland Athletics. He also became just the third pitcher in MLB history to hit his first career home run in a World Series game.
Matt Rappa (@mattrappa) is a contributor to Philliedelphia.com.
