CLEARWATER, Fla. — During Tuesday morning’s bullpen sessions at the Phillies’ Carpenter Complex, José Alvarado and Jhoan Duran were pitching at opposite flanks of the seven-pack of mounds.
It was an early look at likely the two hardest-throwing relievers in the Phillies’ 2026 bullpen, who only were able to team up for exactly 24 days last season. The Phillies acquired Duran at the trade deadline in July, while Alvarado was away from the team serving an 80-game suspension for a positive performance-enhancing drug test.
He returned in August, but only pitched in eight games before a left forearm strain ended his season. He was ineligible for the playoffs due to the PED suspension.
Now healthy and back in camp, Alvarado does not want to dwell on the past.
“I know everything that passed last year, I want to say last year is over,” Alvarado said. “I prepare for coming healthy in this spring. I’m so happy for me, what I see in this spring now. Keep working hard and never give up.”
This winter, the Phillies picked up the $9 million club option on Alvarado’s contract for 2026. The 30-year-old lefty will be a free agent after this season.
Alvarado said he ramped up slower with his throwing program this offseason, with fewer bullpen sessions and live at-bats than he’s typically done by this point. According to Phillies pitching coach Caleb Cotham, that was planned out of caution for Alvarado’s forearm.
“I wouldn’t use the word behind, but it’s just more intentional with the build-up,” Cotham said. “He’s normally overly prepared. Now it’s just more a normal build-up.”
Alvarado is also planning to represent Venezuela at the World Baseball Classic in March, which will help accelerate his ramp-up.
At this point in the spring, bullpen sessions aren’t so much focused on velocity, since pitchers are still building up and, in some cases, experimenting. Alvarado has been working on his four-seam fastball. He relies almost exclusively on his sinker-cutter mix, but in past springs, he has also toyed with bringing back his curveball and four-seamer, both of which he threw more when he first broke into the big leagues.
So far, they haven’t really stayed in his arsenal when the regular season starts. In a limited sample size of 26 innings due to his abbreviated 2025 season, Alvarado threw 22 curveballs (4.8% of his pitches) and six four-seamers (1.3%). When he did throw the four-seam, it averaged 99.6 mph.
“I’m not very confident on that pitch, because when it’s game time, it’s different energy. It looked good,” Alvarado said of his four-seam after a recent bullpen session. “ … Every result I see right now is good. I am in a good spot right now; I need to keep it like that.”
Will the four-seam stick around this time?
“I think a lot of times things that stick are things that work,” Cotham said. “So I think the avenue for me in getting it to stick is he’s got to feel good with it, but it’s also got to work. And we got to work to help him, and find the spots with [catcher] J.T. [Realmuto] and when not to throw it.”
The four-seam can give Alvarado another tool for certain right-handed hitters who handle sinkers well. Cotham also said that working on the four-seam can also help Alvarado fine-tune his other, bread-and-butter fastball.
“It’s also a nice way to keep the sinker calibrated, because he can feel the difference in the four-seam, sinker,” he said. “He’s a guy where the sinker can fly similar to a four-seam sometimes. So actually keeping those both in practice helps keep the sinker going.”
The Grapefruit League, which starts for the Phillies on Saturday, will provide an opportunity for Alvarado to mix in the four-seam to test it out in games.
“Alvy’s a guy where … there’s a lot of feel to his game and wanting to feel the delivery,” Cotham said. “So if he feels good with it, what I tell him is, I’m in. It’s just a matter of when and why, where we use it.”
Extra bases
Brandon Marsh was a full participant in batting practice Tuesday after a cut on his foot limited him the day before. “He’s full go,” Thomson said.
