Philadelphia Phillies: When is the Right Time to Promote Jake Thompson?

By Chuck Booth | Jul 21, 2016

Mar 3, 2016; Clearwater, FL, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jake Thompson (75) warms up before the start of the spring training game against the Houston Astros at Bright House Field. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports /

Jake Thompson is currently dominating Triple-A Lehigh Valley. When is the right time for the Philadelphia Phillies to call him to the majors?

With trade rumors swirling with Jeremy Hellickson and Adam Morgan’s demotion until further notice it’s pretty clear that Jake Thompson is the next man up if the Philadelphia Phillies need another starter this season.

With Zach Eflin climbing two levels of the minor league rungs it’s also clear that the team has faith in their young starters. Every member of the staff outside of Hellickson is under 26 currently setting the Phillies up very well for the future but given his current performance Jake Thompson will be with the Phillies sooner rather than later.

Thompson is having an impressive stretch of 22 consecutive innings pitched without allowing a run after last nights start in which he went six scoreless innings with five strikeouts and allowed four walks and three hits in a winning effort. To truly understand his dominate stretch the scope needs to be expanded to Thompson’s last ten games. During that span he has a six and one record but even that understates how good he’s been as of late.

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Since May 31st Thompson has logged 66 innings pitched for Lehigh Valley which averages out to a little over six innings pitched per game. During that time Thompson has a 1.36 EERA and has struck out 42 while allowing 50 hits, 20 walks, and 10 earned runs. Even more impressive is that six of those 10 runs were allowed in one start on May 31st in which he went 3.2 innings before settling into a groove.

If that start is removed Jake Thompson has allowed four runs over his last 62.1 innings pitched FOUR. Those are Jake Arrieta levels of dominance. If you calculate his ERA for those nine starts it comes out to a .58 ERA from the beginning of June to now. Overall, Thompson has registered 14 quality starts out of 19 overall starts. It’s pretty safe to say that there isn’t much left for him to prove in the minors.

here’s what Philadelphia Phillies manager Pete Mackanin had to say on Thompson’s performance,

"“I know he’s throwing very well,” said Phillies manager Pete Mackanin. “I guess there’s a chance we’ll see him before the year’s over. Guys are doing well (in the minor leagues) and in due time we’ll see some of those players.”"

But then when prodded about what he would do if Jeremy Hellickson were to be traded by Bill Evans of nj.com Mackanin said,

"“Let’s say we lost (Hellickson) and had to move a young pitcher up here,” said Mackanin. “I’d like to see that. Eventually, we will. When I’m not sure. It would be nice to see younger guys."

Basically, Mackanin would be excited with the possibility for him and pitching coach Bob McClure to mold a staff of young starters as he should be. There aren’t many teams who can boast young starters that are as good as those of the Philadelphia Phillies. The future starting rotation could consist of Aaron Nola, Vince Velasquez, Jerad Eickhoff, Zach Eflin, and Jake Thompson. As far as talent goes that’s a pretty darn good rotation.

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There are small concerns around Thompson and those are mainly his total innings pitched and his walk rate. He hasn’t pitched more than 132 innings in a season so it would come into question on if the Philadelphia Phillies will push him over 160 innings this season. They have shown patience with young starters in the past so it would be likely that Thompson would be shut down once September hits.

That shouldn’t stop the Philadelphia Phillies from calling him up because getting major league experience this year could give Jake Thompson the best chance to succeed when he’s in the rotation full-time next season. Once the Phillies make a move there is no reason that Thompson shouldn’t be the next man up.

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