Philadelphia Phillies: After years of disappointment, Zach Eflin has finally arrived

After years of anticipation and disappointment for the Philadelphia Phillies, the Zach Eflin breakout is finally in full effect.

Well, it is happening. Zach Eflin is FINALLY establishing himself as the middle of the rotation arm we have always known he could be. For years now, we have seen plenty of good from the Philadelphia Phillies right-hander. Good stretches would leave us believing in what he could be, but he always left something to be desired. His last couple starts may be erasing that narrative.

Back in 2018 and 2019, the Philadelphia Phillies coaching staff was adamant in how they wanted their pitchers to pitch the baseball. High fastballs, tons of swings and misses, which in theory would create a ton of strikeouts. Makes sense right? Well, maybe in a video game. What Gabe Kapler and former pitching coach who shall remain unnamed forgot to take into account is not everybody is the same type of pitcher. Trying to force somebody to be something they are not is a recipe for disaster.

Last season we saw flashes of what Eflin could become. Through his first seven starts Eflin held an ERA of 3.00 with an OPS against of .685. He followed this up in his next seven starts with an ERA of 2.66 with an OPS against of .667. Seeing a trend?

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Well, for whatever reason that unnamed pitching coach (I refuse to mention his name) decided it was best to try to alter Eflin’s approach, and get him to start being that power pitcher. Of course as expected, this change blew up in everybody’s face. Eflin’s next seven start stretch saw him come unraveled with an ERA of 9.77 with an OPS against of 1.062.

Thankfully, Eflin told the Phillies staff what they could do with their ideas, and he got back to his roots of being a “sinker-baller”, and the results were fantastic. His final seven start stretch in 2019 saw Eflin pitch to an ERA of 2.83 with an OPS against of .685.

Luckily, this appears to have carried into 2020 as “Effy” has easily been one of the bright spots of this entire season. This has come to a head in his last two starts, where Eflin has combined to go 2-0 allowing 3 earned runs in 15 innings of work; one of those starts being a 7 inning complete game shutout against the Toronto Blue Jays.

It is safe to wonder where the Philadelphia Phillies would be without Zach Eflin’s emergence this season. He is easily established himself as at worst a middle of the rotation arm for this franchise, and you can even argue he may have some more upside to his game. While I do believe it is very possible the Philadelphia Phillies will look to add another quality arm to their rotation this offseason, Zach Eflin has made it clear he will be a part of their future plans.

Heck, if the Phillies are able to claw their way into the post-season, it is very likely we will see the right hander standing on the bump in red pinstripes. What a beautiful ending that would be to this rocky road we have all traveled with Zach Eflin.