Back to the Philadelphia Phillies Newsfeed

Why not let Vince Velasquez be Nolan Ryan?

April is no time to make giant leaps of judgment.

There are typically around 20 games in April, too small a sample for anyone, even the leadoff hitter who plays every inning of every game and, thus, accrues close to 100 plate appearances.

Nope, still too small.

Especially for the starting pitcher who throws 94 pitches in four innings of work.

However.

Vince Velasquez, as we know, can’t seem to cleanly pitch an inning. He’ll throw a bunch of strikes to a bunch of hitters, but those hitters then foul off a couple pitches, take a few wild attempts at a strikeout, then end up either on first base thanks to a walk, or back at home thanks to a home run because, at some point, Vinny has to groove one in there.