Will Vince Velasquez Win the Final Spot in the 2020 Phillies Starting Rotation?
Hailing from Montclair, California, Velasquez was drafted right out of high school, where he was a star shortstop and switch hitter. Velasquez had pitched on occasion with Garey High School in Pamona, California. His high school career showed the Houston Astros that he was a versatile athlete, prompting the Astros to draft Velasquez in the second round of the 2010 draft. Upon joining the Greeneville Astros of the Appalachian Rookie League, Houston converted Velasquez to a full-time pitcher. Velasquez pitched in eight games in 2010, starting six of them, posting a 2-2 record with a 3.07 ERA. In 29 1/3 innings, Velasquez struck 25 batters out.
After the 2010 season, Velasquez underwent Tommy John surgery. He spent the 2011 season lifting weights to strengthen his arm, and building up his throwing range. Not wanting to rush Velasquez's rehabilitation, in 2012, the Astros tightly controlled his innings. Velasquez participated in an extended spring training, and then found himself assigned to short season A ball with the Tri-City Valley Cats of the New York-Penn League. Like many who undergo Tommy John surgery, Velasquez saw his velocity increased, going from 88-90 mph when he played for Greeneville to between 90-93 mph with Tri-City. In nine starts, Velasquez had a 4-1 record, with a 3.35 ERA. His strike-outs per nine innings ratio improved too, as he struck out 51 batter in 45 1/3 innings.
Velasquez started the 2013 season at single A with the Quad City Bandits. Logging 110 innings, Velasquez pitched in 25 games, 16 of which he started. With 123 total strike outs, he was leading the Midwest League in strike outs per nine innings at 10.06, when he was promoted to advanced A. In three games, the Lancaster Jethawks of the California League used him exclusively as a reliever, where he struck out 19 batters in 14 2/3 innings. His ERA, however, ballooned to 6.14.
In 2014, Velasquez pitched three games with the Gulf Coast League Astros, striking out 19 batters in 8 2/3 innings. He returned to Lancaster, earning Pitcher of the Week honors for the week of April 14th, and finishing his time there with a 3.74 ERA and 72 strike outs.
Going into the 2015 season, Velasquez was considered to be among the top 100 prospects in baseball. He began in AA, with Corpus Christi. He was called up to play for the Major League team in June. Velasquez started seven games for the Astros, but was moved to the bullpen in late July. Sports Illustrated writer Cliff Corcoran opined that Velasquez made a respectable showing as a major league starter with the Astros. However, Houston struggled to find a consistent role for him in the bullpen. He ended his Major League season with an ERA of 4.37 and 58 strike outs in 55 2/3 innings.
Velasquez joined the Phillies in a December of 2015 trade that sent pitcher Ken Giles and minor league infielder Jonathan Arauz to Houston, in exchange for Velasquez, and pitching prospects Mark Appel, Harold Arauz, Tom Eshelman and Brett Oberholtzer. This was one of the first trades of the Matt Klentak era, who had joined the Phillies as General Manager at the end of the 2015 season, replacing the highly unpopular Ruben Amaro, Jr.
In 2015, the Astros had finished in second place in the American League West, having just finished six miserable seasons in a row, including three straight seasons with over 100 losses from 2011 to 2013 (the year the Astros were shifted to the American League). Accused of tanking for several years (that is intentionally failing to put a competitive team on the field in order to lose and take advantage of baseball's rules that provided last place teams with high draft picks and a significant amount of slot money), by 2015, the Astros' farm system had plenty of prospects.
The Astros wanted to use those prospects to obtain a consistent closer, and help the team take its final steps to becoming a championship-caliber organization. The Astros found a willing trade partner in Philadelphia, a team that was near the end of the process of dismantling its 2008 world championship team to rebuild its long neglected farm system. In particular, the Phillies were looking for minor league arms that the team could plug into its bullpen in order to eat up innings while the team continued to rebuild.
Giles had stepped into the closer role with the Phillies at the end of the 2015 season, having converted 15 out of 17 save opportunities, with a 1.56 ERA. This presented the Phillies an opportunity to raid the Astros' farm system for the badly needed young arms. Those young arms included Velasquez, who had the potential to rise out of the bullpen, and show the talent-depleted Phillies organization what he could do in the starters' role. Indeed, Sports Illustrated reported that the 2015 trade gave Velasquez an opportunity to "re-estabish" himself as a starter with Philadelphia.
The spring of 2016 offered Vince Velasquez a great opportunity. He was with a new team; one that had just recently come to grips with the fact that it was in a rebuilding stage. The Phillies were seeking out new, young talent, and giving those players a chance to show what they could do. One area in particular where the Phils were lacking in the 2015 season was starting pitchers.
At the time, the team had high hopes for Aaron Nola, whom they drafted out of LSU in the first round of the 2014 draft. Nola made his major league debut in 2015, going 6-2, with an ERA of 3.59 and 68 strike outs in 77 2/3 innings. The Phillies were building their rotation around their young prospect.
During the off-season, the Phillies acquired twenty-nine year old pitcher Jeremy Hellickson, who had one year left on his contract, from the Arizona Diamondbacks. They also traded for Charlie Morton, a thirty-two year old right-hander from the Pirates. Jarod Eickhoff, whom the Phillies acquired from Texas in the Cole Hamels trade, entered spring training as a presumptive starter, having gone 3-3 with a 2.65 ERA and 49 strike-outs in 51 innings in his 2015 major league debut with the Phillies.
With four spots in the rotation apparently set, several young pitchers competed for the final slot. Three stood out as the favorites, Velasquez, Brett Oberholtzer, whom the Phillies obtained in the same trade as Velasquez, and Adam Morgan, whom the Phillies drafted in the third round in 2011.
By the end of spring, the contest had whittled down to Velasquez and Morgan. In three starts, Morgan pitched well, posting a 2.00 ERA. However, in the end, Velasquez, who had a 2.25 ERA over 20 innings, won out. Manager Pete Mackanin noted that the choice of picking Velasquez over Morgan was to give the Phillies organization more time to evaluate Velasquez at the major league level, stating, "We like both of them. We like Velasquez's arm power. We want to see him in the big leagues. We know what Morgan is capable of doing."
Out of the starting gate, Velasquez took full advantage of the opportunity he had been given. Debuting against the Mets, Velasquez struck out nine in six scoreless innings on April 9th. A 1-0 contest, Velasquez not only won his first game with the Phillies, but also posted the first win of the season for the team after being swept by Cincinnati in the season opener and losing the first game of the series with New York.
Velasquez next mowed down the San Diego Padres on April 14th, striking out 16 in a 3-0 complete game shutout. With his fastballs averaging 95.5 mph, and topping off at 97.4 mph, his performance was the first 16 strike out game for the Phillies since Cliff Lee. A crisp curve ball gave Velasquez a serious one-two punch, which he occasionally supplemented with an impressive breaking ball. For the second game in a row, Velasquez only allowed three hits. This time, he amazingly walked no one. Fans suddenly had reason to hope that their patience in the rebuilding process would eventually pay off.
However, Velasquez's performance showed inconsistencies. Although he could blow a fastball reaching 97 mph past hitters, Velasquez's control, at times, was lacking. He had a tendency to fall behind hitters, which drove up his pitch count in games. This led to Velasquez leaving games early. The inconsistency showed in his record. In mid-July, Velasquez possessed a record of 8-2, with a 3.52 ERA. By the end of the season, Velasquez's record fell to 8-6, and his ERA climbed to 4.12. Still, the young flame thrower had promise, fanning 152 batters in 131 innings. His strike out per nine innings ratio of 10.4 was second only to Hector Nerris on the team.
Fueled mostly by his flame throwing arm, Velasquez began the 2017 spring training as a presumptive part of the starting rotation. However, Velasquez's vulnerability to injury cut his season short, as he injured his right middle finger after fifteen starts. He ended his season with a 2-7 record and 5.13 ERA.
The 2017 season saw the emergence of young arms from the Phillies minor league organization. This included Zach Eflin, whom the Phillies acquired from the Dodgers in the 2014 Jimmy Rollins trade, and Canadian Nick Pivetta, a former single A All-Star from the Nationals' organization whom the Phillies acquired in exchange for Jonathan Papelbon. The availability of these pitching prospects to the Phillies gave Velasquez perennial competition for a position in the starting rotation, and fueled talk that Velasquez might be moved to the bullpen. To some, Velasquez's velocity made him a good candidate to become the team's closer.
Nonetheless, in 2018, the Phillies used Velasquez almost exclusively as a starter. Command continued to be a problem, causing Velasquez again to have high pitch counts early in his starts. By the end of the season, Velasquez also found himself among the top ten in wild pitches, a dubious distinction.
In 2019, Velasquez infamously found himself in conflict with the Phillies new catcher, J.T. Realmuto, early in the season. After a May 7th 6-0 loss to the Cardinals, where Velasquez gave up three home runs, Realmuto complained to the media that Velasquez frequently shook-off the pitches the All-Star catcher had called for. Velasquez favored his fastball, which Cardinals batters appeared to have little problem handling. Four days later, the Phillies placed Velasquez on the injured list with a right forearm strain.
When Velasquez returned from the injured list on May 25th, the Phillies utilized him out of the bullpen, which initially caused him some consternation. However, Velasquez had some success as a mid-inning reliever. Velasquez made ten relief appearances in 2019. He continued with his ability to blow the ball by hitters, ending the season with 130 strike outs in 117 1/3 innings.
By the end of 2019, the Phillies had had four seasons to evaluate Velazsquez's performance as a starter. While he had many games where he pitched well, preventing many batters from getting hits and keeping his earned runs total low, he also had many games where his pitch count reached the high nineties and low 100s by the fourth or fifth inning. His command problems led to too many walks, and many innings where he would be tagged with a lot of runs.
Nonetheless, Velasquez had shown himself to be an excellent athlete. He demonstrated his versatility while pitching on June 30, 2018. In the top of the second inning, Adam Eaton of the Nationals hit a 97 mph line drive, that hit Velasquez in the right shoulder. Hurting, Velasquez shook off the glove on his left hand, picked up the balk and threw the speedy Eaton out at first, all with his left hand. Once Eaton was retired, and the inning ended, Velasquez fell to the ground writhing in pain. The Phillies took him out of the game to be safe. But his left-handed throw amazed the baseball world, and made national highlight clips.
This was not the first time Velasquez had thrown with his left hand. As a junior in high school, Velasquez had bone spurs in his right hand. He compensated by temporarily playing centerfield left handed.
His high school experience at an outfielder gave Manager Gabe Kapler a surprise tool to use when the Phillies experienced a shortage of relief pitchers due to a Hector Nerris suspension. In an August 3rd game against the White Sox, the game went into extra innings, straining the team's relief staff. Zach Eflin, who had come into the game in relief, started feeling soreness in his arm. In the 13th inning, Eflin reached base on a bunt, and eventually made it to second. Not wanting to risk Eflin's health any further, Kapler put Velasquez in to pinch-run for Eflin. When the Phillies half of the inning was over, Velasquez stayed in the game, but not as a pitcher. Instead, Kapler sent outfielder Roman Quinn to the mound in the 14th inning. Meanwhile, Kapler put Vince Velasquez in left field. Velasquez used his rocket arm to throw out Jose Abreu at the plate, keeping the game tied. The throw was measured at 94.7 mph. In the 15th, Velasquez came within a hair to throwing out Leury Garcia at the plate, with a 95 mph throw from left field. One batter later, Velasquez made a diving catch against a hard line drive hit by the Sox's Eloy Jimenez. The catch ended the inning and quite possibly saved another run from scoring.
Despite his athleticism, Velasquez once again finds himself in competition for a spot in the Phillies' rotation. At the beginning of spring, four spots appeared to be taken by Aaron Nola, Zach Wheeler, Jake Arrieta and Zach Eflin. With the last spot up for grabs, new Phillies Manager Joe Girardi wanted to take his time to evaluate Velasquez as well as Nick Pivetta and Ranger Suarez. Whether they claim the last starting spot or not, all three will still likely make the Major League roster, with two of the pitchers starting the season in the bullpen.
In a March 17, 2020 podcast by NBC Sports Philadelphia, Ricky Bottalico stated his belief that no one had stepped up during the spring to claim the job as their. Bottalico further asserted that he believed Girardi was leaning toward Ranger Suarez. Will Bottalico’s prediction come to fruition? Time will tell.
At the time of the writing of this article, however, baseball in general faces more serious questions than just who will win the last starting job for the Phillies. Due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, all professional sports in the United States have suspended their seasons in an effort to keep people in their homes and to avoid gatherings of fifty people or more. While the league initially announced a two-week delay of Opening Day, the CDC has recently recommended that large gatherings be avoided for eight weeks. Assuming Major League Baseball begins with a period of exhibition games, which would be necessary to permit pitchers to loosen their arms back up, after ramping down for the season's suspension, the earliest the regular season could start would be late May to early June. Wisely, Commissioner Rob Manfred will not announce a potential date for the new Opening Day, waiting to see how things develop. For now, all that fans and players can do is to be patient, and follow the CDC guidelines in order to prevent the over-extension of the nation's medical resources.
References
Major League Statistics and transaction information on Vince Velasquez was obtained from the Baseball Reference website.
Minor League Statistics on Vince Velasquez was obtained from the Minor League Baseball website.
High school scouting information on Vince Velasquez was obtained from the Perfect Game website.
Click here to see the March 17, 2020 NBC Sports Philadelphia Podcast on YouTube.
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