Phillies reliever Mario Hollands on Wednesday moved on to the next phase of his rehab process, joining Double A Reading.
Hollands, the 27-year-old left-hander, underwent Tommy John surgery last April and missed the entire 2015 season. In 2014, he posted a 4.40 ERA for the Phillies in 50 appearances, though in truth he had only one bad month. Hollands allowed 13 runs in 7⅔ innings that July, but had a 2.97 ERA in all other months.
He's made three appearances during his rehab assignment with Clearwater, allowing one run on two hits over four innings with six strikeouts. That rehab assignment began on May 9 and can last a maximum of 30 days (pitchers get 10 more days than position players).
The Phillies can continue to ease the 6-foot-5 Hollands back, and if all continues to go well, he could be back in the Phillies' bullpen by early June. They currently have two lefties in the bullpen in Elvis Araujo and Brett Oberholtzer, but Oberholtzer is the long man, not a traditional left-handed reliever who is tough on same-handed hitters.
