Bellatti was removed from the 40-man roster in early February and will start the season in the minor leagues. He and Ruiz will give the Phillies organization reliever depth in the upper minors.

Bellatti was bumped from the team’s 40-man roster last week, but he passed through waivers unclaimed and will continue to function as extra pitching depth for the Phillies. He’ll be in major league camp as a non-roster invitee.

Bellatti is losing his roster spot to a similar talent in Michael Rucker after following up a strong 2022 (3.31 ERA, 78 K in 54 1/3 IP) with a rough 2023 (5.11 ERA in 24 2/3 IP) in which he spent half of the season in the minors. We’d still rather take our chances with Bellatti, but it might have swayed the Phillies that Rucker has an option remaining and Bellatti doesn’t.

The move comes after Bellatti gave up a couple of runs on solo homers in 1 2/3 innings in the first game of the doubleheader against the Braves. That left him with a 5.11 ERA in 24 2/3 innings this season.