Post-Demotion Domination

Back towards the end of June, when the Phillies decided to send struggling starter Brett Myers to the minor leagues, I voiced my disgruntled opinion at the way they had mishandled his situation on more than one occasion. Turning him into a reliever after just three starts last year was terrible for his long-term success and then reversing the move this year, to me at least, spelled problems from the get-go. Based on his true talent level there simply was no way he could sustain the terrible performance witnessed up to that point and, since his recall, he has been very good.

Much has been discussed about his home runs allowed, and many attempts have been made, by myself included, to determine the cause of his struggles. My looks at his Pitch F/X data showed that he was throwing with less velocity on his fastball, in poor locations, with slightly less movement in certain circumstances.

A straighter 88-89 mph fastball located right around the middle of the plate isn’t exactly going to get guys out. Additionally, Myers did not change his approach; he stuck with the approach of the 93-94 mph guy he used to be and this hurt him. The slower your velocity is, the more careful you need to be with other aspects of pitching, such as sequencing and location.

Since rejoining the big league team, from July 23 until last night, he has put up some great numbers. In 6 starts, he has gone 41.2 innings, surrendering just 30 hits while giving up 9 earned runs. On top of that, he has walked just 10 hitters to go with his 32 strikeouts. His home runs? 2 in this 41.2 inning span, compared to 24 in his previous 101.2 innings.

Here are the starts, broken down:

7/23 @ NYM: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 2 K
7/29 @ Was: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
8/3 @ StL: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
8/9 vs. Pit: 7.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
8/14 @ LAD: 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
8/20 vs. Was: 9 IP, 9 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K

Prior to July 23, he had a WPA of -2.52. Since then, he has contributed 0.933 wins in six starts, lowering his seasonal mar to -1.59. His numbers for the entire season likely won’t turn out as well as he hoped, but if he pitches like this, you would be hard pressed to show me a team that wouldn’t love his services. And, more importantly, if he can sustain some semblance of this performance for the duration of the season, he could prove to be a huge factor in helping the Phillies make the playoffs.