The Phillies are taking a low-risk, high-upside swing by signing right-hander Levi Stoudt to a minor league deal - a move that doesn’t make headlines but could quietly pay off down the line. Stoudt, now 28, is represented by Gaeta Sports Management and has had a winding journey through pro ball since being drafted by the Mariners in the third round back in 2019.
Once considered a promising arm in Seattle’s system, Stoudt’s early career was derailed before it really got going. He missed the entire 2020 season - part pandemic shutdown, part Tommy John recovery - but bounced back in 2021 and the first half of 2022 with 168 2/3 innings of solid, if unspectacular, work. His 4.32 ERA, 23.7% strikeout rate, and 8.3% walk rate in that span showed enough promise to keep scouts interested, especially considering the layoff he was coming off.
That upside caught the Reds’ attention at the 2022 trade deadline, when they acquired him as part of the four-player return for ace Luis Castillo. Cincinnati added him to their 40-man roster later that year to shield him from the Rule 5 draft - a sign they still believed in the potential.
But the results didn’t follow. Stoudt struggled to find his footing in Cincinnati.
He logged just 10 1/3 innings in the majors in 2023, giving up 11 earned runs. At Triple-A, things weren’t much better: an 82 1/3-inning stretch ended with a 6.23 ERA, and his strikeout and walk rates - 15.1% and 13%, respectively - pointed to a pitcher who was having trouble missing bats and finding the zone.
That winter, the Reds designated him for assignment. The Mariners brought him back via waivers, giving him another shot in a familiar system, but eventually placed him on waivers again in June.
The Orioles claimed him, then passed him through waivers in July. Over the 2024 and 2025 seasons, Stoudt posted a 5.83 ERA in the minors with an 18.5% strikeout rate and an 11.4% walk rate - numbers that suggest the command issues persisted, even as the swing-and-miss stuff ticked up slightly.
Still, there’s a reason the Phillies are giving him a look. Stoudt is relatively young and has shown flashes in the past.
A minor league deal doesn’t cost the club much, and if he can rediscover some of that early-career form, the payoff could be meaningful. He still has a minor league option remaining, which gives the Phillies flexibility to shuttle him between Triple-A and the majors if needed.
Plus, with only ten days of MLB service time under his belt, there’s the potential for long-term, affordable control - if, and it’s a big if, he can pitch his way back into relevance.
At this point, it’s about seeing if there’s something to unlock. The raw tools were once there.
The Phillies are betting that with the right tweaks - maybe a mechanical adjustment, maybe a new pitch mix - Stoudt can tap back into the form that made him a notable prospect not all that long ago. For a team always looking to build pitching depth, especially with an eye toward the long grind of the season, this is the kind of move that could quietly pay off.