Phillies young starters showing resiliency in recent outings
Two of the Phillies young starters, Vince Velasquez and Nick Pivetta, have shown the ability to bounce back after giving up early runs in recent starts.
Wednesday’s game could have easily gotten out of hand for the Phillies. Nick Pivetta gave up a solo home run to Adam Jones, the second batter of the game. Had this happened a year ago, the early run could have snowballed into a rough outing. Pivetta gave up five or more runs on eight occasions last year, often precipitated by runs being scored in early innings.
The story was much different in Baltimore this time around. Pivetta completely shut down the Orioles from then on, allowing just one more hit and one walk in seven innings. The 25-year-old tied a career high with 11 strikeouts. He was credited with the win as Philadelphia’s offense finally broke through and took the lead in the top of the sixth inning.
After Wednesday’s game, Pivetta lowered his ERA for the season to 3.72. He now has a strikeout rate of 10.37 strikeouts per nine innings, while lowering his walk rate to 2.15 walks per nine. Pivetta already was worth 0.9 wins above replacement prior to this start; it will likely be even higher after this start.
Manager Gabe Kapler praised Pivetta for his outing, stating Pivetta is becoming more reliable on the mound: [quote via Todd Zolekci of MLB.com]
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“You have to have dominating stuff to dominate,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. “You can get through a lineup and you can get some contact and have a lot of fortune, but he has dominant stuff, the kind of stuff that can wipe out the opposition. Today is just one of those days that you can dream on — like, what if he really puts it all together and is able to do this start in and start out?“We’re starting to see that consistency.“A track record is beginning to develop, and once you start to develop a track record, you have dependability, which is really exciting.”
Pivetta isn’t the only young starter showing resiliency in his outings. Vince Velasquez was an even bigger culprit of letting starts get away from him last year. His command issues often led to high pitch counts, lots of walks, and early exits from starts.
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However, in Velasquez’s last start, he proved he has the ability to bounce back from rough beginnings to his starts. In his outing against the Giants, Velasquez gave up three early runs on two different home runs. This could have been another instance where Velasquez fell to command issues and exited a start early.
Instead, Velasquez continued to pound the strike zone. He racked up 12 strikeouts, the most he had in any one start since his 16-strikeout outing back in 2016. Velasquez limited the damage, allowing just five hits and one walk over six innings. His ability to keep the Giants to just three runs ultimately allowed the Phillies to secure a 6-3 win.
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One of the biggest concerns about having a young rotation is inconsistency. Veterans are often credited with the ability to keep their confidence during starts, even when things start to get out of hand. However, if Pivetta and Velasquez develop that ability to keep their cool after giving up early runs, the team and fans will have much more confidence in the two young starters.