Phillies’ minor signings include local kid

The Phillies on Monday announced two minor signings.

First, they agreed to a minor league contract with catcher Eric Fryer. The 32-year-old has spent parts of seven seasons with Pittsburgh, Minnesota and, most recently, St. Louis. He carries a .232/.320/.300 slash with two career home runs.

The contract includes an invite to spring training; he could compete for a backup role, especially if the Phils move one of Cameron Rupp or Andrew Knapp this offseason.

Meanwhile the Phils also signed pitcher Ryan Etsell to a minor league contract. Etsell spent three years in the Angels organization before being released in December 2016. He then joined the Evansville Otters of independent ball’s Frontier League, showing a 2.42 ERA with 18 strikeouts and 10 walks in five games.

Oh! I’m burying the lede here. Some of you may actually know Ryan Etsell – he’s from Northeast Philly and went to North Catholic. Remember North Catholic? It existed once.

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.