The Phillies have optioned pitcher Zach Eflin to Triple-A Lehigh Valley today. He was battling for the fifth starter role with Ben Lively buthis spring ERA was 5.79 compared to 3.13 for Lively. He’ll return to the minors and will need to find a way to add more strikeouts to his game if he’s to be a successful starter in the big leagues, as he’s struck out just 12 percent of batters in 127.2 career major-league innings. The 23-year-old still has time to improve and could make some starts for the Phillies later this season, but he’ll be further down the starter depth chart once Jerad Eickhoff (lat) and Mark Leiter Jr. (forearm) recover from their injuries.
