As always, insightful comments found on the BlueClaws Blog (http://blog.blueclaws.com/), this time from Phillies Minor League Pitching Coordinator Gorman Heimueller.
On Trevor May: “Very simply, we would like to see consistency in the strike zone. His stuff is still really good. He fights himself on his delivery sometimes and he thinks about walking a guy rather than just throwing it in the zone. We are hoping a fresh start will get him going again. We don’t want him to rely on the hitters chasing, but we recognize that when he is getting strikeouts on balls up in the zone. Ultimately the confidence thing is big.”
Matt Way: “The last month was great. He knows how to pitch and what I want to see is how he adjusts to the more patient hitters. He gets a lot of guys out on change-ups in the dirt, which I can relate to since I did the same thing, but its time for a new challenge for Matt.”
Brody Colvin:”…Obviously the confidence is growing. He can throw his change up at any time and he is really understanding more about situations, recognizing tendencies, and he is becoming a pitcher.”
Jonathan Pettibone:”For us, he has started to show that there is more velocity then he has shown in the past. He uses his lower half more. Getting stronger overall is one thing, but he uses his legs and when you stride out further, you can get your body to rotate more and your arm follows. A lot of young pitchers tend to overthrow, but we want them to use their legs.”
Phuture Phillies 
Interesting that heimuller comments on colvin’s change-up and not his curve. Does anyone who’s seen colvin/knows more about his tendencies know if his change has become the more reliable out pitch?
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You know…today the two most important pitches that seem to be a more modern take on pitching are the fast ball and change-up. They certainly make each other more effective.
When you then throw in a good breaking ball, the deception is fully complete.
The sine qua non is location. Endurance finalizes the model.
Is it generally true that the change-up is most frequently the most difficult and thus the last pitch to get developed?
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Interesting that Colvin (a RH pitcher) with a change-up has a terrible ERA split against LHanded batters. He strikes out a larger percentage of LH batters, which makes sense if his change-up is more advanced than his breaking ball. However, his BB rate and HR rate are significantly worse against LH. He is making mistakes and the are getting hit harder by LH hitters.
Great that he has the change, but as a RH pitcher, I hope breaking ball passes his change in effectiveness.
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My impression on Colvin was that he meant the change, his third pitch, can now be thrown in any situation. Hence he is becoming a pitcher.
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Nowadays, you need a changeup to keep hitters off your fastball. Case in point, Kris Medlen kept the Phillies off balance with his changeup yesterday
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That comment on Pettibone makes me pretty happy, because if his velocity jump is real he could really take off. As he has relied on more secondary stuff more than our other young starters in the past. And I had heard one of his starts on the radio when they mentioned he was in the 92/93 and touching higher. Which was a jump from the 89/90 he used to sit.
Plus he’s gotten tons of ground balls so far this year.
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Take a look at Pettibone’s last 5 starts. Since he came off the DL, he’s been very good and getting better.
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Hopefully May will regain confidence but he will still need to gain location. His stuff was getting out A+ hitters but as he moves up he will pay more for walks and having to groove strikes. I am disappointed that he needed to be sent down to work through his issues but he has plenty of time.
Way should have been in Clearwater all season if they project him as a Major Leaguer. If his upside is Carpenter maybe his better stat lines at lower levels will yield more trade value?
It would be great if Pettibone could regain his upside momentum. Sounds like he will continue to be a project though.
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