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Compare where the Philadelphia Phillies were at in terms of starting pitching two years ago with now, and it is safe to say that GM Matt Klentak came along at the right time. The same can now also be said of his newest left-hander, Adam Morgan.
Two years ago, the Phillies had to dig deep into the minors to finish out the season with pitchers who were not clearly ready; now, the Phillies can afford to lose a starter like Charlie Morton and replace him with a guy like Morgan. Klentak, who was an assistant GM with the Los Angeles Angels before coming to Philadelphia, is a big believer in never having enough pitching and the philosophy is paying off. He added starters Jeremy Hellickson and Morton to a staff that already had Vince Velasquez, Morgan, Jerad Eickhoff and Aaron Nola. Even though Morgan pitched well enough to earn a spot in the rotation after spring training, the logjam of starters ahead of him necessitated that he be sent down to Triple-A Lehigh Valley (Pa.) to get some work.
Nobody figured Morton would be lost for the season running down to first base earlier this week, but that’s exactly what happened. Morgan is a nice insurance policy to have. In a 4-3 11-inning win over the Cleveland Indians on Friday night, he had a career-high seven strikeouts in only five innings. At Lehigh Valley, he was 1-1 with a 3.57 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 17 innings. Last year with the Phillies, he was 5-7 with a 4.48 ERA, and those numbers were not horrible considering that he was pitching on the only team in MLB to lose 99 games.
Now, he will go forward with a 13-10 club and he has five full months to prove that he was the pitcher he appeared to be when the Phillies broke camp. Whatever happens, though, Klentak’s philosophy of stockpiling starters sounds like a plan to build a winner upon.
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