Rule 5 pick Song tuning up for debut

This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki’s Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Long shots are fun. Long shots make great stories. So, Noah Song is worth watching Wednesday, when he begins a rehab assignment in Clearwater, Fla.

The Phillies stunned the Red Sox in December, when they selected Song in the Rule 5 Draft. He had not pitched competitively since 2019 because of his commitment with the Navy.

In fact, he had thrown off a mound only a few times since then. But Song showed so much promise with short-season Class A Lowell in 2019 -- he posted a 1.06 ERA in 17 innings, with a fastball that touched 99 mph -- that the Phillies took a flier on him anyway. Then the Navy accepted Song’s request earlier this year and transferred him from active duty to selective reserves, reigniting his baseball career.

The Phillies have 30 days to place Song on the 26-man roster once the rehab assignment begins.

“I would still say it’s more of a long shot because when you’re talking about a club like ours, a club that’s in a playoff race, the spot you’re talking about is the last spot in your bullpen,” Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said Tuesday afternoon at Wrigley Field. “Can you afford to have somebody like that in that last spot? I can’t answer that at this point.”

Rule 5 Draft picks must remain on a team’s active roster the entire season, otherwise they must be placed on outright waivers. But Song has been on the injured list since March with a back injury, which changes things. He must be on the active roster 90 days before he loses his Rule 5 status. Song will not hit that number this season. So, for example, if he is on the active roster 60 days in 2023, he must be on the active roster another 30 days in 2024 before he loses Rule 5 status.

Is it possible? Song is reportedly throwing the ball well in Clearwater, although his velocity is not where it was at the end of 2019.

“He hasn’t pitched in a game,” Dombrowski said. “You don’t really know how he’s going to respond to that. But we finally have reached a point where, after being out three years, [he’s] coming back to us … he’s healthy, he’s been throwing the ball now, consistently. It took a while. He had a lot of things that were minor that would end up bothering him. It’ll be interesting to see how he responds. I have no idea how it will go.”

Dylan Covey is the team’s last man in the bullpen. He has pitched only five times this month. Perhaps the Phillies will find a way to stash Song at the end of the bullpen, if they believe he can pick up an inning or two.

“If you have somebody out there that has got the last spot and they don’t get people out, then you’re in trouble because it affects your whole staff,” Dombrowski said. “Now, if you can go out there and pitch a scoreless inning or two, that’s a different story. But we really don’t know how he’ll do in that regard.”

Song could show enough potential in the coming weeks that he could be traded to a team that would have fewer issues keeping him on the active roster.

He could help the Phillies in that way, too. It’s all very interesting, even for a longtime baseball executive such as Dombrowski.

“It would be an unbelievable story,” he said. “With his background, coming out of the Navy like that. He’s such a special individual with what he’s done. His abilities were off the charts. It would be a great story. I hope it happens, but I really have no idea.”