The Philadelphia Phillies have had one of the best starting rotations in all of baseball this season. With Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez, Ranger Suárez and Jesús Luzardo anchoring the starting five, there haven’t been many others that could match up to that. It enabled them to think about planning for a six-man rotation down the stretch to help preserve the health of their arms as they prepare for the rigors of a playoff run.

Now into September, that plan appears to have come to fruition. However, the Phillies’ sixth man has turned out to be one that nobody had expected. With the late addition of two-time World Series champion Walker Buehler right at the end of August, it is the 31-year-old right-hander who will get the nod to join the Phillies’ starting “six.”

Phillies going with Walker Buehler in six-man rotation nobody saw coming

The plan is to have Buehler make his debut as a starter on Sept. 12 against the Kansas City Royals, per Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Earlier in the season, if Phillies fans were to predict who could have received the distinction of being the sixth man in the rotation, most would have chosen top pitching phenom Andrew Painter. Many had expected Painter to finally arrive this season to shine for the Phillies. However, after a strong start with Single-A Clearwater, things haven’t gone as smoothly in his stint with Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

In 19 starts, Painter had posted just a 4-5 record with a 5.36 ERA and 1.52 WHIP, giving up 55 earned runs and 41 walks to go along with 94 strikeouts in 92 1/3 innings pitched. Such a performance kept the Phillies’ brass from jumping the gun to promote the young 22-year-old as he might just need a little more seasoning.

When the Phillies made the surprising move of shifting Taijuan Walker from his reliever role back to a starter in early July with Nola on the IL, he has held his own ever since. In 10 starts, he has managed to put up a respectable 4.21 ERA while averaging more than five innings per start, with the team posting a 5-5 record in the process.

As a result, Walker appeared to be the ideal sixth man to help give the Phillies’ rotation some rest when Nola returned from injury. However, the sudden shock of Wheeler’s injury and season-ending surgery disrupted that plan once again. Therefore, the plan will now be implemented using the last-minute import of Buehler.

But Phillies fans should be worried as the version that they are getting isn’t likely the one that made him a two-time All-Star. In fact, Buehler has struggled mightily with consistency this season, compiling a 5.45 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, giving up 68 earned runs including a whopping 22 home runs, along with 55 walks and just 84 strikeouts in 112 1/3 innings pitched with the Boston Red Sox. The fact that his numbers appear worse than the aforementioned players in Painter and Walker could make Phillies fans cringe when he does eventually take the mound later this month.

Nevertheless, Buehler has proven time and time again to come up big when his team needed him most, most recently last year in the MLB postseason with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He will need to do so again this time with the Phillies to ensure that their six-man rotation plan actually ends up helping the team rather than blowing up in their faces.