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Has Phillippe Aumont Turned A Corner In Triple-A?

By Matt Leon

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- There are few things that get the ire of a Phillies fan up quicker than the mention of the Cliff Lee trade.

Of course that's the deal that went down back in December of 2009 when, on the same day the Phillies acquired Roy Halladay from Toronto, Lee was shipped to Seattle. In return the Phillies got outfielder Tyson Gillies and pitchers J.C. Ramirez and Phillippe Aumont.

Gillies was released by the organization in 2014 after making next to no impact on the field, as he never rose higher than Triple-A.

Ramirez did make it to the big leagues with the Phillies in 2013, but he wasn't very effective at all, putting together a 7.50 ERA in 18 appearances. He now pitches for Arizona.

Then there is Aumont. The 6'7" right-hander spent time on the Phillies roster in 2012, 2013 and 2014, but never found any consistency. He struggled this spring and was taken off the 40-man roster and, after not being claimed on waivers, he was sent to the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Many thought that would be the last heard from Aumont. But an interesting thing has happened here in 2015.

Phillippe Aumont has been really good for the IronPigs.

He started the season in the bullpen, but he moved into the starting rotation in late April. As a starter, Aumont is 2-1 with a 1.68 ERA. In 3 of his 6 starts this season, he has held the opponent scoreless and even in his last start on Saturday against Charlotte when he was not sharp at all (set a Lehigh Valley franchise record with 8 walks), he managed to hang in there for five innings, allowing just 3 runs (2 earned) and when the IronPigs exploded for 8 runs in the bottom of the 5th, Aumont ended up earning himself a win. It was an outing that had implosion written all over it, but the fact that he found a way to keep his team in the game, in a way, may be even more impressive than his performance in some of the more dominant outings he has had this season.

"There's nothing good when you look at the negative side of an outing or whatever," Aumont told KYW Newsradio after the game. "You've got to look at the positive and build off that and make some adjustments. I was out there, I was battling for the team to keep them as close as I can and then in the fifth inning, they went on a tear and picked me up."

Listen to the entire interview with Lehigh Valley's Phillippe Aumont

Aumont's inconsistency at the big league level has been well-documented and magnified because of his inclusion in that Lee trade. He is aware that things haven't gone according to plan.

"Hasn't been a smooth ride at all," Aumont says. "But you just keep grinding. There's nothing you can do. You want to play baseball, you've got to go through some ups and downs and you just keep battling. The more you battle, if you're strong enough, you're going to stick around. If you're not, you're just going to be one of those guys that's going to fade away. I want to stick around so I put in the work and I never give up. There are nights when it's tough, it's really tough. You go home and look at yourself in the mirror and you're like, 'Do I still want to go through this?' At the end of the day, yes I do, because I want to keep playing. I want to keep competing. It's fun to do what I do."

If he continues to pitch well at Lehigh Valley, it is not completely out of the question that he gets one more shot in Philadelphia. But that's a possibility he takes in stride.

"I am hungry to get back up there and to pitch for the team," Aumont says. "But my main focus is here (in Lehigh Valley) for right now. I want to get better on my delivery, my pitch selections, get deep in the game, less walks. Whatever's going to happen is going to happen. If it happens in two weeks, it happens in two weeks. If it happens in two months, it happens in two months. It's not really something I go home and I'm like, alright, I'm a step closer or I took a step back. I just go day-to-day and when the opportunity's going to come I'll be ready for it."

Aumont will return to the mound for the IronPigs tonight, pitching the first game of a doubleheader against the Gwinnett Braves.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.

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