Yesterday saw the spring debut of Vance Worley, and on the surface it didn’t go very well. In two innings, Worley gave up five hits, a walk, two earned runs, a wild pitch, and no strikeouts. Worley is entering his second full season as a member of the Phillies rotation. So what factors led to Worley’s downfall on Wednesday? In today’s “CTOD”, we have a short and sweet edition breaking down Vance Worley.
Vance Worley was not a top prospect. Outside of the diehard fans, Vance Worley wasn’t even on the radar of 10% of “Phillies Nation”. Worley was up for a cup of coffee in 2010 where he posted a sub-two ERA in five appearances, including two starts. Worley’s 2011 season was his breakout season, going 11-3 with a 3.01 ERA. Let’s break down some of the more finite details of his 2011 campaign.
Worley’s repertoire heading into 2011 featured a fastball, curveball, slider, and a change-up. The majority of Worley’s season was based off of his fastball and slider. The fastball was his primary pitch, using it 66.5% of the time, followed up by his slider, which he used 21.3% of the time. His change-up and curveball was used in the remaining 12.2%. Worley’s LD% (line drive percentage) was at 23.5%. His GB% (ground ball percentage) was 39.3%. His FB% (fly ball percentage) was 37.2%. Now that we know what he threw and the results of the balls put into play, let’s take a look at a comparison or two.
So as you can see, Worley’s percentages match up pretty well with both Hamels’ and Halladay’s when they were younger. What Worley will need to do is not rely so heavily on the fastball. In just four seasons, Hamels dropped nearly 10% in his reliance on the fastball. Halladay dropped nearly an astonishing 40% in reliance.
So what will Worley do to avoid the “sophomore slump”? By improving the quality in his repertoire. At the beginning of spring training, Roy Halladay showed Worley the grip he uses to throw a split-fingered change-up. Worley has also stated he wants to work his curveball into regular use. This definitely is the time of year to work on this type of stuff, when it doesn’t count. If Worley can balance out his pitches thrown, he will definitely be able to keep hitters off-balance and have continued success.
Statistics according to fangraphs.com. *Roy Halladay did not throw one conventional change-up in 2011, instead he went with the split-fingered change-up. ^Cole Hamels uses a cutter, or cut fastball, and does not use a slider.
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Tags: countdown series, Vance Worley
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