Phillies: What can team expect from Ben Lively and Nick Pivetta
The Philadelphia Phillies are trying to find life in the rotation with Nick Pivetta and Ben Lively.
Philadelphia Phillies rookie pitcher Ben Lively will take the mound for just the second time this season tonight against the Atlanta Braves, looking to get the team back into the win column after a miserable loss last night. The righthander was excellent in his major-league debut last Saturday against San Francisco, spinning seven stellar innings in which he allowed only one run on four hits.
With Vince Velasquez on the shelf and Zach Eflin’s struggles it appears like Lively and fellow righthander Nick Pivetta are in line for extended stays at the big league level.
Pivetta has been serviceable in his five starts with the Phillies and not much more. The 6’5” hurler is 1-2 with a 5.18 ERA over 24.3 innings, with the main issue being the amount of walks he’s allowed. He allowed three runs on six hits against Atlanta on Monday night, failing to get past the fifth inning despite being staked a large early lead.
His numbers are strikingly different at Triple-A this season, as he’s posted a 5-0 record and a 1.41 ERA in five starts, yet has been unable to equate that into big-league success. He walked only two batters in 32 innings at Lehigh Valley, yet has walked 12 already with the Phillies.
The problem seems to be that Pivetta is pitching timidly, afraid to attack hitters and pound the strike zone. As a result his WHIP (walks+hits/innings) has skyrocketed, along with his ERA.
Lively showed no such reservations in his first start, attacking hitters with an aggressive approach and good command of his fastball and secondary pitches.
The only troubling sign from Lively was his relative inability to miss bats against the Giants. He had zero strikeouts and out of 98 pitches thrown only five were swung on and missed by Giants hitters.
Lively struck out 7.2 batters per nine innings at Lehigh Valley this season, which for reference, is around the career average of former Phillies pitcher Brett Myers.
It remains to be seen which version of Lively we will more consistently see, but it stands to reason that he won’t continue to have the success he had in his first start without missing more bats.
The window is open for both of these pitchers to stay in the Phillies rotation for an extended period of time. Velasquez’s injury is considered to be minor and he could return around the All-Star break. However, this is the second time he has dealt with an arm injury in his career and no one would blame the Phillies for being overly cautious with their most prized pitching prospect.
Eflin is dealing with elbow issues and pitched terribly with the Phillies this season anyway, making it extremely unlikely he’ll be back with the team anytime soon.
Many of the other top pitching prospects aren’t lighting the world on fire at Triple-A either, as Jake Thompson (2-5, 5.73 ERA), Mark Appel (4-2, 6.14), and Ricardo Pinto (3-3, 5.36) all have ERA’s above five and a couple could be looking at moves to the bullpen soon.
The only threat to Lively and Pivetta at the moment is righthander Tom Eshelman, who commands a 4-0 record and a sterling 1.38 ERA at Triple-A. If he continues his torrid performance we could see a push for him to receive a call-up but with only six starts under his belt, it appears like that won’t be a possibility for a little. Add in the fact he’s not on the 40-man roster and that becomes incredibly improbable.
For both Lively and Pivetta there are things to improve if they want to stick. Lively must miss more bats and show good results over a larger sample size. Pivetta must figure out how to give the team better length in his starts. Of his five starts, he’s exited in the fifth inning in all of them. Giving the Phillies more innings will be a huge objective for him going forward.
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More than likely, the next couple months will be an extended audition for Lively and Pivetta, with one of them getting a chance to stay with the team after Velasquez comes back in July.