Burdi (elbow) was selected by the Phillies with the third pick in the Rule 5 draft Thursday.
The hard-throwing righty is working his way back from Tommy John surgery, which he underwent in late May. He made 75 pitches from 80 feet earlier this week, so his rehab appears to be going well. Burdi can touch triple digits with his fastball and has a wipeout slider, but his command/control was an issue even before the surgery, so it may be a year or two before he can locate well enough to reliably handle high-leverage situations. This is a nice landing spot, however, as the Phillies don't have a long-term closer entrenched, so Burdi could earn that role at some point in the coming seasons. He will need to be kept on the active roster all season, otherwise he will be exposed to waivers and offered back to the Twins. Burdi could return to game action sometime this summer.