Phillies' Orion Kerkering: Throws clean inning Thursday

Kerkering threw a clean inning in Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Rays, striking out two while picking up a hold.

Kerkering now holds a 3.00 ERA and 1.00 WHIP while fanning three over three innings during spring training so far. The 23-year-old right-hander showed plenty of promise out of Philadelphia's bullpen in his first full season in the major leagues, featuring a 2.29 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 74:14 K:BB across 63 regular-season frames a year ago. Kerkering is slated to start 2025 in a setup role behind presumed closer Jordan Romano, but it's not out of the question that the former sees some ninth-inning work at some point later in the season.