TODAY: The Phillies announced that Velasquez has been placed on the 10-day DL. Righty Ricardo Pinto will be called up to take the open roster spot.
YESTERDAY, 11:13pm: Velasquez says that he believes the injury to be mild, Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly tweets, though a trip to the DL will be required regardless.
7:49pm: Phillies righty Vince Velasquez left his outing early tonight after experiencing a velocity drop. The team has now announced that he has been diagnosed with a strained flexor in his right elbow.
Obviously, the severity isn’t yet fully known at this time, but it seems clear that Velasquez will require at least some kind of absence. The Phillies aren’t contending and will surely exercise plenty of care in handling the young righty.
It has already been a trying year for Velasquez, who has shown signs of excellence in the past. Through 48 2/3 innings entering today’s action, he carried a 5.55 ERA with 9.6 K/9 and 3.9 BB/9.
Now, there are increasing questions about durability for Velasquez, who’ll soon turn 25. He missed time last year with a biceps strain and was ultimately shut down for the last month of the year.
Velasquez did manage 136 total frames in 2016 (including a rehab start), which set a career high. But it remains to be seen whether he can carry a full starter’s load. It has long been said that Velasquez may end up pitching from the back of a bullpen, and those calls figure to increase with this latest injury flare-up.
What a bummer. Kids got mad talent and needs to learn how to harness it. Hard not to like him as a person either. Gonna miss him, but Ben Lively will get his much deserved shot at the big league level.
Would make a great bullpen piece. That’s his future.
He’d make a decent rotation option if he didn’t try to strike out every batter, but alas here we are. Could be a dominant bullpen piece, agreed.
I think Velasquez could still be a very good starter. He flashed some of that potential last year, and just needs some work from a new, good pitching coach to refine his mechanics or something to help him with his control.
Worst thing about moving him to the pen would be that we won’t get to see him bat. I love watching this guy hit!
Look at Randy Johnson’s stats for his first 5 years. Never would guess how he ended up. VV will be fine if he can put it together.
Randy Johnson also pitched when starters were allowed to learn how to pitch and work through things. If Johnson had been a starter today—babied, the way they are—he wouldn’t have been allowed to learn how to pitch because you can’t do that maxing out at 90-100 pitches in 5 innings. Johnson would have been sent to the bullpen, where he likely would have been out of baseball in a couple of years.
The problem with pitchers today is that they think that they have to throw every pitch at maximum effort, which leads to burnout and Tommy John. Pitchers would rather hit 97 MPH and be mediocre or 92 and be effective.
I don’t know that it’s that simple. Velocity generally yields strikeouts, which generally yield results. Everyone would rather throw 92 with good run prevention numbers than light up radar guns and suck, but most guys can’t be successful at 92 anymore
Wrong. Location and movement yields strikeouts. The fastest fastball will always get hit if it has no movement and if it misses location.
I wouldn’t give up on him as a starter yet but he does have the fall back of a dominant Bullpen piece
Send the bum to the minors. Era is astronomical, useless player.
That’s some freaking lame trolling.
He’s not useless, as he’s got mega talent. Problem is he doesn’t know how to pitch, and just throws the ball as hard as he can. If someone can teach him how to pitch he could become an elite starter, but I doubt that’ll happen.
Ricardo Pinto?! Seriously?! 5.53 ERA?! What more does Ben Lively have to do to get the call?!
Hes starting for the optioned Eflin
Valasquez has raw talent, no question. But needs to harness same and work more efficiently. He reminds me of Brandon Morrow.
He’s a closer