Prospect Spotlight: Phillippe Aumont

Prospect Spotlight

Writer’s note: This will be a recurrent series over the course of the year.  The goal is to take a look at a guy in the system who is doing something interesting either positive or negative, or just plain interesting.  The format may change but the goal is to not just look at the surface stats.  Given that information out of minor league camp is limited I will kick this off with a guy on track to break camp with the big league club.

I will kick off this series with the marquee prospect in the 2009 Cliff Lee trade to Seattle.  I will start off by saying I could watch Aumont pitch for days, the stuff is just so great that it is hard to not be enamored with it.  With that I acknowledge Aumont has some developmental challenges in front of him.

What do we have here:

Aumont is large and is not a great baseball athlete.  His delivery has a tendency to fall apart and affect his command.  Aumont has three 60-70 grade pitches, but out of the bullpen he has shortened the arsenal to really include only the fastball and curveball.

Fastball – PitchFx actually classifies it as a sinker most of the time.  The first thing that comes to mind is that it is hard, averaging 95.7 mph, but has been clocked as high as 98 mph.  The second big thing is the large movement to the pitch, PitchFx has it breaking 11.4″ towards the arm side, comparatively Halladay’s 2-seam fastball a similar pitch has about 9.7″ of break armside at a much lower velocity.

Curveball – Aumont throws a hard curveball that has great two plane movement breaking away from right handed batters and bury down.  Aumont’s curveball averaged out at 81.6 mph last year but get be as slow as 79 or as fast 84.

What he is doing poorly right now:

Consistency – There is little similar from outing to outing from Aumont and often from batter to batter.  He is not repeating his delivery and location all the time.  He has spurts where he is commanding his pitches and other times where he is out of the zone.

Fastball Command – Aumont is not throwing the fastball for strikes.  In the outing in which he threw 10 straight balls it was mostly fastballs, and fastballs to the same location.  He is starting the pitch in the middle right of the zone and it is breaking out of the zone.  Hitters are not chasing it because he is not consistently throwing it in the zone.  This spring he has been elevating it more and not getting it down in the zone.

What he is doing well:

Curveball Command – Aumont has been throwing the curveball for strikes.  He is keeping it down in the zone and getting it to both the inside and outside corners.  Since he is able to throw it for strikes consistently he has then been able to expand the zone and start them at the bottom of the zone and bury them down and a way for swinging strikes.

Where do we go from here:

Aumont’s stuff is good enough that hitters aren’t making good contact in the zone.  In a small sample size appearance last September, Aumont’s sinker generated a 73.1% ground ball percent and none of his pitches were below 70%.  In the minors Aumont generated a good amount of ground balls as well.  If Aumont can just get the fastball in the zone enough to keep hitters honest on fastballs towards the sides of the plate he can be dominant.  The curveball is a true put away pitch that he can generate swinging strikes on.  It is going to take some work against major league hitters who won’t be fooled by the stuff to force him to adapt but there are reasons to like him with his issues.

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About Matt Winkelman

Matt is originally from Mt. Holly, NJ, but after a 4 year side track to Cleveland for college he now resides in Madison, WI. His work has previously appeared on Phuture Phillies and The Good Phight. You can read his work at Phillies Minor Thoughts

40 thoughts on “Prospect Spotlight: Phillippe Aumont”

  1. Perfectly summarized. I have nothing to add. Especially liked the Pitch f/x movement statistics! Looking forward to him getting tips from Roy and how to command so much movement.

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  2. It seems that the FO wants him to learn/refine his shortcomings on command and repeating his delivery while pitching at the MLB level. So he will be part of the 25 northbound.

    What is the thinking here? Is placing him on the big club’s roster appropriate?…or should he work out the kinks at AAA LV? Could his glitches cause the loss of MLB games while he “learns” or “refines”?

    He appears to be not much of an athlete. That may effect his ability to make the needed adjustments.

    What say y’all?

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    2. sounds like a guy who would be helped by pitching every other game at LV, not once a week in Philly…

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    3. Aumont’s stuff is good enough that bad (AAA) hitters are going to chase his stuff out of the zone. He needs to trust the fastball in the zone in the majors. If he needs more “innings” you can work him in bullpen setting with close supervision from coaches “smoothing” out the mechanics.

      In terms of major league success, he does not get hit hard in the zone because it is difficult to square him up. He will dominate and he will struggle, and that likely won’t change over his career

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      1. And that is like most relievers, when you think about it. We’ve let guys close who were exactly like that, except on their on days they were more hittable than Aumont is on his on days.

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  3. I say just deal with the inconsistency and pitch him out of the Phillies pen. This is what his career might be and I am fine with that. Maybe not the best comparison but Mitch Williams saved 43 games in 93 and he was pretty inconsistent. I throw him in. If it doesn’t work out, send him down. I just think it might be a waste of time to send him down hoping he becomes consistent when he never may. This may just be a case of “he is what he is” and what he is right now, inconsistent and all, can still be effective.

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  4. He reminds a bit of Marmol for the Cubs. Truth is that, like Marmol, his control could end up being what it is and the team will have to deal with the rollercoaster rides when he pitches. Not really much different than Bastardo or former Phillie JC Romero.

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  5. I don’ t think there’s any way the Phils will send him down at this point. His last outing was his only rough outing with his command, and he came right back and shut down the side after that. He’s so hit or miss though, when he’s on he’s on, when not, watch out.

    Give him some time this year to work out the kinks, at best, he can be our 7th inning guy this year, at worst, could be back down to the minors. Only time will tell, plus he’s still young and improving.

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    1. I don’t see it other than the height. Farnsworth is a superior athlete (former football player) but more significantly, his arsenal was based off a triple digit, straight as an arrow, four seam fastball. Aumont’s fastball has so much movement it often gets classified as a sinker.

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  7. Wish he could have put it together as a starter. With that frame and that sinker… sigh.

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  8. We have been waiting for 3 years for Aumont to put it together. When he is good….he is awesome. When he is bad…..he is horrible. I hope we see more good.

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    1. They talked about him on radio. Said his mechanics will never allow him to put it all together. Have to take good outings with bad and hope good far outnumber the alternative.

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      1. I agree with this. His size makes it harder to keep everything together consistently. I think it is tougher to keep it together out of the pen, especially on the road. Teams cheat. You can’t count on the bullpen mound matching the game mound and that can throw off a guy like Aumont quite a lot.

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  9. Dare I mention the Big Unit. Randy Johnson was a little bigger than Aumont but he led the league in BBs and HBP for three years in his mid-to-late 20s. At his size, it’s hard to get the hips, knees, elbows a and arm going in the same direction. Aumont’s not a starter so he’s not getting 200 inninga a year to work on it.

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  10. Just some notes on today’s A+ game at the complex: Serritella had a great day with a HR and double, he really has a nice swing. C. Perkins did well also with a double and a single, while Walding and Tocci went hitless even though Tocci was robbed by great play by the 2nd baseman on a ground ball up the middle in his last AB. Nick Hernandez started and went a good 3 innings giving up only one single, but I snuck a peak at the radar gun and he was only hitting 86 on his FB. Over at the A game I only saw Cozens hit twice but he hit a line drive single and blasted a triple over the CF head, plus he stole a base. Cozens looks like real good athlete with good baseball instincts. I have video of Hernandez from today and several hitters from Wednesday’s intrasquad games at http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGkita

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  12. Getting Ruff decent in left field is the goal. IMO, the FO is satisfied that he can/will hit MLB pitching well enough to play his bat a lot in LF which would allow Brown to move to RF. I don’t have a lot of faith in D. Young being competent enough nor physically able to play RF…which is a graveyard for pitchers whose RFers can’t catch enough or play well enough to prevent runners from going from 1st to 3rd let alone playing RF singles into triples.

    At least w Brown in RF his speed could help reach balls more readily and he does have a strong arm. I was glad to see him in RF today (Friday, 22nd).

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    1. Let’s assume (without discussing whether it is wise) that Brown and Young both start in the outfield. Can somebody, anybody, explain to me why, in tha scenario, you would put Brown in left and Young in right? Brown is faster and has a better arm, how does that make any sense? Anyone? I don’t get it.

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      1. Because RF is Delmon’s natural position, he was only bad in LF because he was out of position there. He will not only be passable but a borderline gold glover in RF.

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        1. Grass is greener syndrome. What stats say Delmon is a borderline gold glover in RF? RF is also Brown’s natural position. When he was struggling in LF last season, he wasn’t cut any slack for being a natural RF.

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        2. ‘borderline gold glover in RF.’….that is making me laugh. Was that a qoute from Ruben after the signing?

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      2. Unlike Matt, I will not be sarcastic, and I will come the closest as I ever will to a defense of Delmon Young. If one believes that the most significant difference between right and left is the need for someone with a strong arm, one could at least make the argument with a straight face that Young has a stronger arm that Brown. Young’s biggest deficiency as a fielder is horribly poor range – and that is arguably as much of an issue in left as in right.

        Do I buy that argument? No. I’d play Brown in right and Young in left. Well, I wouldn’t play Young at all, but twe’re assuming for the sake of argument that both should play. I just think that the decision to play Young at all is the real mistake; I don’t know that playing him in right necessarily compounds it that much.

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        1. Obviously you aren’t really making that argument, but if someone tried to make it with a straight face I’d laugh right in that straight face. Dom Brown has one of the stronger and more accurate arms in baseball right now. In the field it is far and away his strongest skill.

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          1. Agreed. Why can’t folks distinguish between Larry advocating for Young playing right field and his articulating the position in favor of that move? He is not saying that Young should play in right and is clearly not saying he should be playing at all. .

            I do find it hard to believe that Young would have a better arm in right than Brown. Brown might have one of the best arms in baseball right now.

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      3. I would add, that, while I give this fact no weight at all for reasons which should be obvious, his defensive metrics in RF are actually fine.

        I think the “natural position” argument is IN FACT absurd, but I can see how one could come to that conclusion. I’d just prefer that those capable of coming to that conclusion not have any decision making role for the Phillies.

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            1. Lol!! No. Never met the guy and while I do not always agree with him, his analysis is more incisive and accurate than pretty much anyone else on the site, mine included.

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            2. They do share one commonality……both are attorneys, and we all know the lawyer jokes and what is at the bottom of the ocean floor.

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  13. So not one of the guys from the minors will make our bullpen. all these 25 to 28 year old pitchers,and not one is good enough to help us in the bullpen, just shows how bad this minor league system is, we can talk all we want, but the system is just bad, hopefully some miracle happens and we draft a stud,

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