The Phillies held on to secure a nail-biting win over the Brewers last night, and they did so largely on the strength of a strong outing from enigmatic righty Vince Velasquez. The 28-year-old righty has been in and out of the rotation over the past several years, but Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia suggests that he’s put himself in line for another look after his recent stretch. The Phils haven’t gotten much out of their offseason investment in Matt Moore, and at least for the time being, Velasquez has pitched well enough that it’d be hard to justify putting him back in the ’pen even now that Moore is back from the IL. Manager Joe Girardi has yet to confirm who’ll take the ball when the fifth spot in the rotation comes up again this weekend, but if he wants to ride the hot hand, Velasquez has a 3.24 ERA and 19-to-8 K/BB ratio in his past 16 2/3 frames.
More on the Phils…
- Phillies right fielder Bryce Harper is dealing with a left wrist problem, though manager Joe Girardi doesn’t expect him to go on the injured list, Todd Zolecki of MLB.com tweets. The issue cropped up last week, causing Harper to sit out the Phillies’ games on Friday and Saturday. Harper returned to their lineup Sunday, but he re-aggravated the injury then, and he wasn’t in Monday’s lineup as a result. The hope is that he’ll return in the next couple of days. The Phillies have used a combination of Matt Joyce, Roman Quinn and Odubel Herrera in right when Harper as been unavailable, but their numbers have left plenty to be desired. Harper, on the other hand, has slashed a tremendous .317/.446/.598 with six home runs and three stolen bases over 101 plate appearances.
- Second baseman Jean Segura and utilityman Ronald Torreyes will embark on rehab assignments this week, tweets Matt Gelb of The Athletic. The Phillies have gone without Segura since he went on the 10-day IL with a strained right quad April 21, while Torreyes landed on the Covid IL on April 19. Rookie Nick Maton has emerged at the keystone during Segura’s absence with an impressive .327/.365/.429 showing in his first 52 major league trips to the plate. To keep Maton’s bat in the lineup when Segura returns, the Phillies could give him an opportunity in center field, Girardi said. Phillies center fielders — Quinn, Herrera, Adam Haseley (who’s away from the team for personal reasons) and Mickey Moniak — have combined for an astonishingly poor .105/.190/.189 line through 105 plate appearances in 2021.
- More from Gelb, who reports in a full column that the Phillies removed Rafael Chaves as their director of pitching development in March and promoted Travis Hergert on an interim basis. Chaves remains with the organization, but his new role isn’t clear. Hergert has just one year of experience as a professional coach, having joined the Phillies prior to 2020 after a stint at North Iowa Area Community College. Hergert is a major advocate of Driveline Baseball’s training programs, according to Gelb, who reports that not everyone in the Phillies’ player development ranks is on board. Nevertheless, the Phillies are hopeful Hergert and pitching coach Caleb Cotham will work well together with a data-driven approach.
Been awhile since i posted anything on this site…. but as for my opinion on this we ride Velasquez’s good starts until he has a bad one then Spencer Howard can take over. Nick Maton will be playing CF by the end of next week… go get Goodwin.
Vinny pitched well last night and while it’s a good sign, he’s done this before. I’ll choose to remain positive and hope this latest outing builds into something bigger.
They NEED to get Segura back. Maton has played so well and can play all 4 infield positions, I would hope Girardi would sit other struggling infielders when needed and rotate Maton around the diamond to keep guys fresh. He’s been playing too well to sit him.
watch them sign VV to a 10-year contract because of last night.
Yeah that sounds about right lol
North Iowa Area Community College? I thought teams only hired Ivy Leaguers. Do they even have sabermetrics and algorithms in Iowa?
Their most notable graduate is Walter O’Rieley.
I refuse to put any emotional investment in Vince anymore. This has happened too many times since he came to this team. If it wasn’t for his first start with those 16 strikeouts he would have been let go a long time ago. It is beyond frustrating in 2021 there is still talk about Vince starting.
I didn’t want to say it, but it’s akin to A Boy Who Cried Wolf. No one in the Delaware Valley (and probably baseball in general) believe Vince is going to put it together.
Him making it to the 6th inning has become the exception, not the rule and the fact that it is being looked upon favorably is disturbing. Starters should be expected to make it into (and usually out of) the 6th inning.
None of their off season acquisitions have panned out at all. The two starters have been awful, The bench pieces like Joyce and Miller have been horrendous. Miller got all his hits in two or three games while Joyce has hit like he is a centerfielder.
The difference is Joyce has a great obp. The others can’t even take a walk.
That’s actually not true. Coonrod, Alvarado and Bradley (before the injury) have all been excellent. Miller has been solid and Chase Anderson has been a prototypical 5th starter.
I will agree that Kintzler, Moore and to a lesser extent Joyce have all been sub par. The first two being awful. They should have never been cheap and let Watson walk. The bullpen would be that much better and that’s what it needs to be.
Agree. However, Kintzler has proven effective and has played his part (especially for what they paid for him). Chase Anderson has gotten the wrong end of the stick a few times with having to leave a decent game earlier than planned due to the Phillies lack of offense. Problem is, he had that one really bad start in Colorado (I watched if from the stands).
Moore really has no place on an MLB Roster.
Oh Mickey “you’re not so fine” ! Wonder when they give up on him ?
Probably since he continues to prove that he isn’t a Major League ready player. He can’t play the OF and he can’t hit. Not sure they’ve given up on him, but he has a lot to prove still.
he also has two option years after this and is ~23. unless he becomes the worst player on the 40 he’ll be sticking around.
He was not ready at all. Watched him few times and totally overmatched. Phillies are not developing him. He wasnt that good in the minors but kept promoting him. To many players get promoted and wash out because of draft position and not when they’re ready.
Vince is the new Kyle Kendrick. Usually terrible with blips of acceptable.
Kyle was at his best when he was a swingman/middle reliever. If he would have embraced that role instead of always wanting to be a starter his career would have lasted longer.
I’ve turned a corner on the idea of Maton in CF. It’s worth a shot. If we start getting offense from CF, then the Phillies have a killer lineup. 4 and 5 starters are still a problem, and thd bullpen…yessh. We need Bradley back ASAP.
VV is like the little girl with a curl – when he’s good he’s very, very good, and when he’s bad, he’s horrid
“Hergert has just one year of experience as a professional coach, having joined the Phillies prior to 2020 after a stint at North Iowa Area Community College. Hergert is a major advocate of Driveline Baseball’s training programs, according to Gelb, who reports that not everyone in the Phillies’ player development ranks is on board.”
Considering the track record of the ‘Phillies’ player development ranks’ I’m firmly in Herbert’s corner.
Maton is proving people wrong who have defended Kingery’s poor hitting coming from a lack of a permanent position.
Maton reminds me of Kevin Stocker. He might not have power, but he has contact, speed, and range. That’s something the Phillies really need right now.
At this point, they need to just trade for a CF. Apparently no one in the organization can play the position and hit. Maton is the last hope.
Odubel was the best player in camp from the CFs…the more he plays, the better he will be..he is making contact..now, it’s timing….anyway, that’s my opinion
Herrera is horrible. The worst of the 4 terrible CF. He wasn’t released because of the Rules against releasing for off field behavior but he can and should be releases because he sucks.
He’s batting .083