It’s that time of year again. In the era of pitch counts and inning caps, a rebuilding team like the Phillies is faced with decisions on when to pull the plug on the seasons of some of their young, talented pitchers.
Saturday night, the sometimes electric righty Vince Velasquez, 24, threw in his final game of 2016 (see story).
Sunday, 22-year-old Jake Thompson moved one start closer to his last of the year (see story).
The Phillies are pretty happy about the way their young talent has progressed this year, even Aaron Nola, the 23-year-old seventh overall pick two years ago, whose 2016 season ended abruptly with an elbow injury.
The Phillies waited a little longer than expected last year before shutting Nola down a week before the season ended as he threw 109 1/3 innings across three levels in 2015.
With Thompson (163 innings) and Velasquez (131), there’s reason to be careful. The two are potential cogs in the team’s rotation for years to come.
In Velasquez, the Phillies saw a young pitcher work through some ups and downs and close on a high note.
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“First and foremost, it’s not easy to strike out 10 hitters per nine in the big leagues,” general manager Matt Klentak said Sunday. “It’s not easy to do that at any level as a starting pitcher, especially in this league. For him to be able to do that for five straight months, that’s really impressive. We’ve seen it, Vince has power stuff and as he’s learning to mix in his secondary pitches, he’s becoming a really good starter. We are, all things considered, very happy with his development this year and hoping he can contribute down the road.
“I’m thrilled with the progress Vince made this year.”
Klentak said the team is monitoring Thompson closely.
With Velasquez’s season over and Thompson’s likely done soon enough, the Phillies will need some pitching help the rest of the way. There’s still about a month left in the 2016 season.
One of those pitchers is likely to be Alec Asher.
Acquired in the Cole Hamels trade to Texas, Asher made his Major League debut in 2015 and posted a putrid 9.31 ERA in seven starts.
But he showed improvement early in 2016 after adding a two-seam fastball to his repertoire. He had a 2.37 ERA with 46 strikeouts in 64 2/3 innings at Reading and Lehigh Valley before being being suspended for PED use back in June. The suspension is set to end Monday, and it’s quite likely Asher, 24, takes Velasquez’s spot in the Phillies rotation as soon as Thursday in Washington.
Asher, who has been rehabbing in the Gulf Coast League and most recently in Reading, is not eligible for the minor-league playoffs because of his PED suspension, which makes his addition to the big club all the more likely.
Asher started Saturday for Reading. He allowed two runs on five hits in four innings and struck out five.
Klentak wouldn’t fully commit publicly Sunday to Asher taking the spot of Velasquez, saying: “We’ll see. That’s certainly an option.”
It's the one that makes the most sense, all things considered.