Bat Flips and Flipped Scripts

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Last night was Reading’s home finale, which meant that the stadium would be packed to see some fireworks after the game. Well they got a lot of fireworks for watching the game. Hours prior to the start of game time, it was announced the Phillies would be sending Odubel Herrera and Aaron Altherr to Baseballtown to start their rehab assignments. On top of the fact that Franklyn Kilome, one of the team’s top pitching prospects, was already going to start the game, it could’ve been a very special night. But sometimes scripts don’t alway go the way you think they’ll go.

Let’s quickly start with the two guys on rehab. Altherr was really only in Reading for a workout and did not play last night. El Torito did play and put on a show for the faithful fans in Reading. He would single in his first at bat through the hole on the right side of the infield. His third at-bat resulted in a walk and eventually scoring on a Jiandido Tromp home run. But the second at-bat is the one everybody on Phillies social media is talking about. If you were worried about Herrera’s bat flip game, well…

Herrera ended his day in Reading 2/2, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, BB and probably scarred Francisco Rios for awhile. With Reading finishing their season on the road at Trenton, Herrera and Altherr will continue their rehab assignment in Allentown tonight. I would expect both to return no later than Monday when the team comes back north from Miami to play in Queens.

Now on to yesterday’s starter. A couple weeks back, I got my first look at Kilome and he did not disappoint pitching into the eighth inning. This time around, Kilome was shaky. After allowing a leadoff walk on six pitches, Kilome would retire the six batters he faced on 18 pitches. At this point he had thrown 24 pitches (14 strikes) through two innings.  Reese McGuire came the closest to doing damage, hitting a fly ball to the track in RF to end the 1st inning. Things started to fall apart quickly in the third inning. After back to back singles from the bottom of the order, Jonathan Davis would attempt to bunt the runners over, and Deivi Grullon made a throw to 2B that sailed into CF allowing the first run to score. Richard Urena than hit a hanger just past Zach Green at 1B and then a sac fly to CF would make it 3-0. The fourth run would score after Herrera misjudged a fly ball with two out, which would be promptly followed by an RBI single. Throughout the inning, New Hampshire prospects jumped on elevated pitches early and often as six of the nine that came to the plate in the inning saw two pitches or less. Kilome’s fourth inning started with a fly out and that was the last ounce of positivity he would have. He would allow six straight baserunners on three walks and three hits resulting in three more runs. His final line: 3.2 IP, 7 H, 7 R (4 ER), 4 BB, K on 73 pitches (42 strikes).

Kilome’s at his best when he keeps the ball down in the zone and gets groundballs off his heavy fastball. While his command was shaky at times back on 8/16 he was keeping the ball down in the strike zone except for the three extra base hits he allowed (two solo home runs). This time, he left a lot his pitches above the belt. His first two times through the order, hitters were 1/7 on his fastball but 3/5 off his curveball. His third time through the lineup the resulting pitch would be a fastball to all five batters he faced. The result was 3/3 and two walks. He didn’t have the good slider (or harder breaking ball) tonight. On top of that he was mainly sitting 93-95 mph on his fastball. In his start on 8/16 that was 95-97 mph. Perhaps it is a bit of fatigue (thrown 12.1 more innings than last year) or it’s the stadium radar taking a tick off his velocity. But really this was just not having a great feel for his fastball. What frusturates me about Kilome is that he got good secondary stuff with a pair of breaking balls which have the same break but are manipulated with different velocity and shape, his curveball (77-80) which has a sharp 12-6 break and a harder slider (81-84 mph) with less of a break. Those two plus his developing change-up (84-85 mph), and you would think you’d have strikeout pitcher. Yet the fastball command has not caught up which is why if you exclude last season when he had a 10.2 K/9 in 114.2 innings, that rate drops to 6.8 K/9 in the other 216.2 innings he’s thrown. Next season will be big for Kilome as he’ll enter his fifth season in the pros. He’s got big league stuff and will be a major league pitcher with his secondary offerings, but in order to convince me he’s a starting pitcher, the fastball command needs to be better. Here’s some more stats and a compilation video of Kilome’s start from last night

  • Threw 12/23 1st pitch strikes; Strikes: eight on fastballs, three curveballs, one slider; Balls: five fastballs, four curveballs, one slider, one change-up; First pitch in play: 4/4, 2B, SF, 4 RBI; Ahead 0-1: 1/5, 2 BB, reach on error; Behind 1-0: 2/8, RBI sac bunt, 2 BB
  • Four groundouts, four flyouts
  • LH hitters: 4/8, 2B, 3 RBI, K (swinging); RH hitters: 3/9, RBI, 4 BB
  • 42 fastballs (57.5%), 17 curveballs (23.3%), nine sliders (12.3%), five change-ups (6.8%)
  • Three swinging strikes (4.1%)(one fastball, two curveballs); only strikeout was on curveball to Reese McGuire in the third inning
  • Seven at-bats were five pitches or longer; 12 at-bats were two pitches or less

One Final Thought

  • Jiandido Candido Tromp has made an impression on me and it continued last night. With Reading down 7-2 in the fourth inning, Tromp would get one in the middle of the plate and drive the ball the other way over the RF fence for a three-run home run. In three eyewitness games this year, Tromp has gone 4/9 with a double, two HR, six RBI, two runs, two walks and two strikeouts. Overall this season at Reading he has hit .289/.334/.494, 18 HR, 62 RBI, 5.9% BB and 23.4% K. Tromp was a decent HR/FB rate of 13.1%, and this has been consistent during his career so there is some average pop. The number that stands out is his line drive rate of 21.6% which was similar to what he did in Lakewood last year before declining upon his promotion to Clearwater. The one thing that concerns me about Tromp being anything more than a bench bat is that he does tend to expand the strike zone frequently even though he shows a decent eye at the plate. But unlike Darick Hall, who was the MVP in the SAL at Lakewood, Tromp’s defense playing both corner outfield spots has been solid. Tromp has a better chance at making a major league roster because a fourth or fifth outfielder has more value than a 1B only bench bat (which is why it’s hard to see Tommy Joseph being on the Phillies roster in 2018)