Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Velasquez reverts to old form in first real start
PHILADELPHIA » It was five days ago that social-distancing protocols were put in jeopardy as members of the Phillies queued up to lavish praise on Vince Velasquez.
Look at his cutter, the critics raved. He’s a fourpitch pitcher now, exclaimed the manager. How tremendous has he been, proclaimed position players asked about completely different topics.
So you can imagine the shock when, as the fourth inning of Sunday’s matinee slopfest against the Miami Marlins arrived, the bullpen door at Citizens Bank Park swung open and someone other than Velasquez trotted to the mound to attempt to retire batters.
In his 2020 debut, it was the same old story with Velasquez, lasting just three innings in a no-decision in an 11-6 loss.
In a game where Velasquez was staked to a fourrun lead after one inning, he still didn’t sniff the fourth, triggering a parade of faulty relievers, more than a few pitching out of the bullpen less for their penchant for getting outs than for having failed as starting pitchers. Takes one to relieve one, I suppose.
“This is my first game of a new season, new pitches, new arsenal in general,” Velasquez said. “Maybe just kicked me in the tail a little bit. But I’m not worried at all in my work ethic. I came a long way to earn this spot, and I’m still very optimistic in my workability and what I’m capable of doing and I’m going to continue to build as much as possible.”
Despite the preseason hopes, the trend remains hauntingly dire for Velasquez. A lack of length is what led to Velasquez’s bullpen demotion last year, though the strong spring/summer inspired an umpteenth chance in the rotation. But Velasquez remains pathologically incapable of going deep in games. Sunday was his 100th career start in the big leagues, 93 with the Phillies. He’s lasted six or more innings just once in his last 33 starts, the diamond in the multi-year rough a seven-inning performance in Arizona last Aug. 5. It’s a shockingly stark departure from him going six innings in 30 of his first 60 starts as a Phillie.
Sunday’s outing unraveled quickly. The Phillies took a 4-0 lead in the first, the big blow a Bryce Harper three-run homer to right. But Velasquez gave up a solo homer to Jesus Aguilar to lead off the second with a cutter that didn’t cut, then hit the next batter, Brian Anderson, while trying to bust him inside.
That errant pitch threw off Velasquez’s confidence, taking his fastball command and his feel for the cutter with it. When eight-hitter Miguel Rojas jumped on a firstpitch fastball, it exited the building quickly. As did the Phillies’ lead, and, perhaps, the glimmer of new hope.
“I had a good summer camp and I’m just trying to be repetitive as much as possible,” he said. “Rojas kind of just jumped on that fastball first pitch.”
“He seemed to really lack some command today,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Not sure why, I’m not sure if it’s excitement, his first start. … For Vince, it’s really important that he bounces back, he goes back to work, he gets his stuff right and has a good start the next start.”
Velasquez worked around a walk in the third with two strikeouts, but he was done after three innings and 60 pitches. And this against a Marlins team whose starting pitcher and at least one regular reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 Sunday,
adding to a handful of players on the shelf.
Velasquez’s fallibility might be a rare beacon of normalcy in a season unlike any other. But that makes the Phillies’ continued dependence on the talented but maddening righty more glaring. At 28 and in his sixth season, Velasquez is no longer young. Barring a significant change – Girardi and new pitching coach Bryan Price viewed the cutter as that change – he is now the pitcher he’s going to be.
Last year, the Phillies stood pat in the offseason, relying on Nick Pivetta, Zach Eflin and Velasquez to eat innings and provide just enough pitching to back a revamped lineup. They didn’t.
This offseason, Matt Klentak went with quality over quantity in throwing nine figures at Zack Wheeler, who pitched well Saturday. With Pivetta banished to the bullpen, it leaves just two spots in the rotation for the oftinjured Eflin and Velasquez to pitch their way out of. That still might be too many.
The bullpen is stocked with pitchers like Pivetta and Cole Irvin who couldn’t hack it in the rotation. After investing heavily in that area last year only to have injuries fell veterans, the crew this year is distinctly underwhelming, especially on the right side (see Pivetta and Reggie McClain serving up gopher balls Sunday).
With 60 games to get into a widened playoff field and contest a Late-Fall Crapshoot, there’s precious little time for Velasquez to go through his usual journey of pitching self-discovery. There’s even less cover for the fallout. And though fans aren’t in the stands, the murmurs tracking Spencer Howard’s progress in Lehigh Valley will still crescendo, wondering why a young pitcher trending upwards doesn’t venture down the Northeast Extension to replace an older pitcher trending toward big-league oblivion.
Girardi resolutely said that Velasquez will make his next start Friday, even as Howard, who tossed Sunday, would be ready to go. Velasquez didn’t sound down on himself despite the struggles, and it is only one start, though that sample size is less miniscule this season than ever.
“This is something that I’ve got to continue to take bits and pieces of and learn from, just put it behind me and keep moving forward,” Velasquez said. “Obviously it’s not ideal to start the home debut, but those four runs are on me and I shouldn’t have let it get away from me like that.”
But as the pendulum swings wildly between optimism and pessimism one more time, you have to wonder how many chances remain.
To contact Matthew De George, email mdegeorge@21stcenturymedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ sportsdoctormd.