Joe Girardi confirmed the obvious on Monday afternoon when he officially named Aaron Nola as his opening night starter.
But the Phillies manager is still reluctant to say how the rest of the rotation will line up.
Even after Vince Velasquez shackled the New York Yankees with five-plus innings of one-run, six-strikeout ball in the Bronx on Monday night, Girardi wouldn’t say where Vinny Velo lined up in the rotation or whether he was in it at all.
"I'm just going to leave it that Vince has pitched very, very well and we have some decisions to make," Girardi said. "But Vinny has been really impressive in this 2.0. Really impressive."
You can take it to the bank that Velasquez will be in the rotation and he's likely to pitch at The Bank during the Phillies' season-opening series against the Miami Marlins this weekend.
Still to be determined is whether Velasquez will pitch Game 2 on Saturday night or Game 3 on Sunday. The Wheeler family will probably determine that. Zack Wheeler is projected to start the second game, but he might have more important things to attend to as his wife is close to giving birth to the couple's first child.
Velasquez, 28, has been in and out of the Phillies' rotation for four seasons now. He has been plagued by inconsistency and an inability to get through the middle innings, and patience with him has run thin.
But his performance over the last few weeks has given team officials some hope that he might be ready to finally turn the corner.
Under the tutelage of new pitching coach Bryan Price, Velasquez, previously a devotee of the high fastball, has broadened his pitch repertoire and diversified his approach to getting outs. He added a cutter during the quarantine and worked on it religiously with assistant pitching coach Dave Lundquist.
"The whole quarantine made me look back," Velasquez said. "A lot of guys were gearing up on my fastball and me being a power pitcher, I needed to learn how to locate something away from righties and in on lefties. The big lefty guys would ambush fastballs in and everything was pretty much straight, so I wanted to find something that was more comfortable to throw in on lefties and away from righties."
During the down time, Velasquez also polished up his changeup and recommitted himself to throwing the pitch. He still has that big fastball and can ride it up in the zone when he's hunting a strikeout, but he's also working the knees, a practice he and others on the staff got away from last year.
"It’s just a matter of mixing speeds, changing eye levels and going from there," Velasquez said.
"He's got different weapons," Girardi said. "He has his four-seamer. He's added a cutter now which I think has been big for him. His curveball, his changeup – he's worked really hard on that and it's been effective. The four-pitch mix helps you get through lineups the second and third time. When you're going through a lineup the third time and you’ve only used two pitches they’ve seen everything you’ve got and it's much more difficult.
"Vinny is a worker and he’s going to work really hard and he wants it really bad, so I think it's his determination that has helped him make this adjustment."
Velasquez allowed just four hits and walked one. The game ended in a 2-2 tie. J.T. Realmuto (double) and Roman Quinn (single) drove in the Phillies’ runs.
Time will tell if Velasquez is really ready to deliver for the Phillies or if his work in this summer camp is another of his big teases.
"The fact that I am capable of going out there and performing like I did [Monday night], if I continue that day in and day out, it's going to answer itself," Velasquez said.
Notes
- Third baseman Jean Segura was hit by a pitch on the hand. Girardi said early indications were that Segura was OK, but more will be known Tuesday.
- Nick Pivetta, still in the mix for a start in the first week of the season, will pitch in an intrasquad game at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday night. That will be an eight-inning game.
- Jake Arrieta will pitch in an intrasquad game Wednesday. Zach Eflin will pitch in a simulated game Thursday.
- The Phillies will begin sending players to their backup roster in Lehigh Valley over the next couple of days. Outfielder Mickey Moniak could be added to that group.
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