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ATLANTA – In the past two seasons, Vince Velasquez has often been called to the race. Velasquez's fast big ball and the difficulty of navigating in the middle of the innings fueled these cries.
But the Phillies are committed to developing a starting pitcher.
And manager Gabe Kapler thinks that the best is yet to come from the 26-year-old right-hander, who is 8-11 with an average of 4.63 in 29 starts this season.
Kapler uses the Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) metric to support his opinion. FIP measures everything a launcher can control – in simple terms, it eliminates defense. Among the biggest starters with more than 140 rounds launched this season, Velasquez ranks 23rd with a FIP of 3.65. Nick Pivetta has a few concatenations at 3.72. Jacob deGrom leads the majors at 2.02 and Aaron Nola is sixth at 2.77.
"FIP is more predictive of what will happen next year than ERA and that's why we consider PIF more than ERA," Kapler said. "The ERA tells the story of what happened, including the defense. FIP tells us what could happen in the future.
Kapler said the Velasquez FIP is in the Charlie Morton area (3.65), Kyle Freeland (3.77), Zack Greinke (3.79) and David Price (3.90).
"Most people in this range are really good at their job," Kapler said. "It's something I have to explain to Vince – you're fine. If a team does not like a guy with a low FIP and a high ERA, they do not pay attention. These guys are ripped off and asked in the trades. They are in high demand because with improved defense and luck, you are expected to get a better pitcher and maybe a superstar pitcher.
By mentioning the FIP, Kapler highlighted one of Phillies' biggest drawbacks: defense. According to FanGraphs, the Phillies rank last in the league in defensive runs saved (DRS) at under-127. In comparison, the Braves, the Phillies NL East team, ranks third in the majors at over 60 DRS.
"I recognize that our defense has not been great," Kapler said.
"If we caught the ball in a better team this year, if we were doing better team games, that includes everything you can think of defensively, I think our pitchers would stand out even more than they did." 39 have done. "
Desperate to try to stay in the NL East race, the Phillies have recently given priority to the defense. The idea came back Thursday night as two-game opportunities below average resulted in two points behind Velasquez in the first run. But Kapler took a similar tactic on Friday night. Seeking an attack, he used Rhys Hoskins in the left field, Carlos Santana on third and Justin Bour on first.
Next year, the defense needs to be redefined. It must be better. This will help the launch staff.
"We will look at a number of areas that we will improve and focus on to help our collection of advocates to be the best version of themselves," Kapler said. "Speed, agility, mobility, athleticism. If we come up with two more balls on the ground, if we have two other throws that are much better … it's really a game of thumbs. We have a lot of guys who have the opportunity to improve. "
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