The Phillies have acquired right-handed pitcher Vinny Nittoli from the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for minor league catcher Karl Ellison, Phillies president of baseball operations David Dombrowski announced today.
Nittoli, 31, has made 32 combined appearances at triple-A this season. In 46.1 innings of work, he has posted a 3.30 ERA (17 ER, 46.1 IP) with 59 strikeouts to 14 walks. He began the year with Scranton Wilkes-Barre in the New York Yankees system before being released on July 18. He was then signed by the Toronto Blue Jays on July 24 and assigned to Buffalo.
With Buffalo, he appeared in 10 games and faced 37 batters over 9.2 innings. Of those 37 batters faced, he struck out 15 (40.5%) and walked only one (2.7%). In total, of the 184 total batters faced between both clubs in triple-A this year, Nittoli has a 32.1% strikeout rate and a 7.6% walk rate.
Nittoli was originally drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 25th round of the June 2014 draft out of Xavier University. He has made one major league appearance in his career and that came with Seattle on June 23, 2021, against the Colorado Rockies.
Ellison, 27, was most recently with triple-A Lehigh Valley, where he appeared in eight games. Signed by the Phillies as a minor league free agent on March 1, 2022, Ellison began the season with single-A Jersey Shore and was promoted to Lehigh Valley on Aug. 1. Between both levels he appeared in 47 games this year (42 starts).
