On deck to debut: A.J. Burnett

The Phillies' late offseason acquisition will make his spring training debut Sunday against his former team.

Wouldn't it be nice to see A.J. Burnett pitch well?

The spring hasn't been kind to the Phils' other starters early on.

Cliff Lee, Kyle Kendrick, Roberto Hernandez and Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez all had rocky first games, Cole Hamels has yet to throw a pitch and Ethan Martin probably threw a few too many and will be shut down for three weeks.

You likely don't need to read too much into the veterans' shaky starts, but it would have been encouraging to see Gonzalez or Hernandez throw better than they did.

The 37-year-old Burnett, who went 26-21 with a 3.41 ERA in 61 starts the last two seasons with the Pirates, falls into the first category.

Burnett has strikeout stuff — he led the league with a 9.8 K/9 rate in 2013. His repertoire includes a low-90s fastball, a low-80s curveball and the occasional changeup that comes in about 5 mph slower than his heater. He also owns the second-highest ground-ball rate (57.6 percent) in the majors the past two years.

In addition to Burnett, Jesse Biddle, Jonathan Papelbon and Antonio Bastardo are slated to get work off the mound on Sunday. Only Bastardo (1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 K) has seen action already this spring.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. (CSN).

Phillies lineup

1) Tony Gwynn, Jr., CF
2) Carlos Ruiz, C
3) Chase Utley, 2B
4) Ryan Howard, 1B
5) Marlon Byrd, RF
6) Bobby Abreu, DH
7) Freddy Galvis, SS
8) Cody Asche, 3B
9) Zach Collier, LF

Comments

[T-Dub]

What does it matter if he or anyone pitches well or not out of the shute? It's spring training for pete's sake. These guys are working on arm strength, location and developing pitches regardless of exhibition game situations on the mound.

[MG]

Reality - should where do you think MAG should start the season? Yeah starting MAG at Reading isn't out of the question. Either that or Lehigh and I imagine it will largely be dictated by who is available to projected to start where.

[bullit]

repost:

i thought MAG looked like a work in progress. he might not even need a whole lot of time at LV. my question is, how does the elbow feel the day after throwing 51 pitches in anger?

[Scott]

I'll just leave this here:

Ryan Lawrence ‏@ryanlawrence21 13m

Phillies outfielders are taking part in a catching-balls-up-against-the-wall drill. Quick: name the former Gold Glove outfielder in camp.

[Andy]

A groundball rate that was helped mightily by the Pirates willingness to shift the infield liberally. When was the last time you saw the Phillies shift at all.

What's that silly expression? Oh yeah: smfh

[Fatalotti]

The groundball rate is independent of the Pirates' proclivity to shift. The rate at which those groundballs are turned into outs, on the other hand, is very much dependent on the Pirates' proclivity to shift.

Also, Burnett has been with the Phillies for a month now. As such, there ought to be a limited number of pictures of him in a Phillies uniform. How is the picture in the thread header part of that set? Is that just Burnett's pose. That's weird.

[sdphillie]

Jamie and Stairs, I like it.

[Fatalotti]

Good to see the umps are in midseason form.

[LorecorE]

Asche finally made an out(barely)!!

[aksmith]

I have a hard time believing nobody else was encouraged by MAG yesterday. From the reports we were getting, he was going to look just awful and probably be carted off the field with a career ending injury. All he looked was rusty. He's clearly got a major league arm. He just needs to shake off the rust.

[Cyclic]

Wait the catcher is allowed to bat 2nd?

[bullit]

i agree with you, aksmith.

[MG]

MAG did look fairly awful yesterday. His velocity was hovering around ~90 MPH/high 80s and he didn't have command on any single pitch or location.

MAG did state earlier in camp that his arm strength wasn't where it needed to be right now. That might explain the mediocre velocity numbers yesterday. Interesting to see if they do improve a bit by the end of ST.

As for the location, it was a mess. Simply had a hard time even throwing anything in the zone for a strike.

The criticism of MAG based on his bullpen sessions was ridiculous but he didn't how much yesterday except that he is anywhere close to be able to help the MLB team.

Bet they really have to break him down and streamline his delivery and pitching repertoire in addition to gradually adding arm strength. Phils aren't going to be able to do that in a month in ST with limited innings.

Basically someone they check back on June or July to see how he is doing from a velocity and command perspective.

[LorecorE]

Asche early lead for worst camp.

[Pblunts]

First time seeing Biddle pitch. Is it just me or does he have a very slight hitch or hesitation in his delivery?

[MG]

LoreCore - He looked he has gone to the 'Michael Young School for Defense' at 3B.

Still the first week of camp and nothing to get too concerned about one way or the other.

Interesting that ZIPS and Steamer are both pretty down on Asche this year and project him to be basically a replacement-type player. Basically average defensively at 3B and below-average offensively.

Steamer has him at .256/.307/.404 with just 11 HRs and ZIPS at .246/.296/.388 with 15 HRs.

Only Oliver has him with favorable offensive projections: .255/.312/.437 with 20 HRs.

You made a pretty good point that Asche's best bet to stick at 3B as a MLB starter isn't to hit for power but to hit for a decent average (.280+) with an average/above walk rate and a bunch of doubles.

Looking at it the other day and I wonder if Sandberg is willing to consider a platoon at 3B.

Frandsen had a poor year last year overall but he did kill LHP again (.311/.409/.459) and was 'okay' defensively at 2B in limited time. Also did a pretty decent job as a PH again for the 2nd straight year for the Phils.

Frandsen is like Mayberry in that if you ideally can use him correctly (Mayberry strictly as a LF/RF who faces RHP less than 60% of the time on the season and is limited to less than 250 ABs) he can help a MLB ball club. Frandsen doesn't have Mayberry's power or speed but he is a better contact hitter & a better PH option.

A semi-platoon of Asche/Frandsen at 3B and using Frandsen occasionally at 2B to spell Utley (maybe once a week vs LHP) is the ideal scenario to use Frandsen even if the Phils do take a defensive hit with Frandsen at 3B and lose a bit of power.

[Reality]

So critical on early bullpens is crazy but pushing him to double A off 1.2 innings is sane.

MG logic at its most idiotic.

And to the troll putting up gay stuff- get a life you basement dwelling loser.

[MG]

Reality - Amaro has said repeatedly this spring that MAG will have to earn a spot but the indications are that will open the year in the minors.

Good to see your still trollin the boards Phlipper.

[Heather]

The thing I don't understand about MAG is why he's nowhere close to ready. He's had like 9 months since the Phils have signed him. What have he and the Phils been doing the last 9 months?

[MG]

Idiocy regarding MAG's early bullpen sessions were saying he was a 'bust' already.

That was what was ridiculous and completely over the top.

If you are going to mock and ridicule others, trying sticking to what others have actually written and not hyper aggravating it and to what Amaro and others have said publicly too.

[fooman]

Asche got drilled in the wrist. Wouldn't surprise me if he broke something. Bring on the rook.

[Kevin]

Mini Mart!

[Coach Kent Murphy]

Cody hand didnt look good. Looked like a grapefruit

[can_of_corn]

I know Kevin--in the middle of adjusting to the new broadcast team, new players and new coaches, at least we have the comforting sight of MiniMart. And it is even better that he is in another uniform.

[Jeffrey]

This is going to be a long year. This team is terrible. Even the broadcast booth is much worse. I say the season will be all but over by early May.

[Scott]

Beerleaguer: Everyone complains about Wheels and Sarge, then they complain after they get fired. The site is already in mid-season form.

[Reality]

I always swallow

[WSJ]

Preliminary results on Asche say it's just a bruise. I wonder though, given it's pretty easy to break any number of the smaller hand/wrist bones. Definitely looked scary.

[bittel]

So let's see: five games, and none with more than six hits (from memory).

Mid-season form.

Is Utley in Florida? Just wondering.

[Reality]

Thanks for the hot date that we had last night MG.