Forty-year-old David Robertson is returning to the big leagues for a 17th season after agreeing to contract terms with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The National League team has not announced the transaction, but the Philadelphia Inquirer, MLB.com and FOX Sports reported on Sunday on the pitcher’s return. Robertson will be paid $6.22 million on his remainder-of-the-season contract.

USA Today reported that nine MLB teams attended a workout by Robertson in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday.

A standout at Paul Bryant High School in Cottondale and Alabama before reaching the Major Leagues in 2008, Robertson joins the Phillies with Philadelphia holding a one-half game lead on the New York Mets at the top of the NL East standings with 63 games remaining on its regular-season schedule.

The Phillies’ bullpen ERA is 4.33, the eighth-worst in the Major Leagues, and Philadelphia doesn’t have a pitcher with more than eight saves this season, although eight pitchers have at least one save in 2025.

Last season, Robertson made 68 appearances out of the Texas Rangers’ bullpen. He posted a 3-4 record with a 3.00 earned-run average and two saves. In 72 innings, the right-hander yielded 53 hits and 27 walks and struck out 99.

Robertson had been a free agent since Nov. 4.

In his MLB career, Robertson has posted a 66-46 record with a 2.91 ERA and 177 saves in 861 games. He ranks 39th in games pitched and 72nd in saves in baseball history. In 876.2 innings, Robertson has yielded 656 hits and 357 walks and struck out 1,154 batters.

Only two pitchers in MLB history have struck out more batters in fewer innings than Robertson – former Lee-Huntsville and Wallace State standout Craig Kimbrel and current Boston Red Sox closer Aroldis Chapman.

Robertson’s 42 postseason games are the 10th most for any Major League pitcher, and in the history of the American and National leagues, Robertson and Lefty Gomez are the only pitchers to have at least six wins and no losses, with both at 6-0, in the postseason.

Robertson pitched for the New York Yankees when they won the 2009 World Series and for the Phillies when they lost the 2022 World Series.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.