In a deal that sent over closer Ken Giles to the Houston Astros, the Philadelphia Phillies acquired pitchers Vincent Velasquez, Brett Oberholtzer, a minor leaguer who is reportedly outfielder Derek Fisher and a fourth player on Wednesday, pending physicals, according to MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki.
The Phillies took advantage of the Astros’ need for bullpen help to address their starting-pitcher predicament.
Last season, Philadelphia starting pitching allowed an average of 4.99 runs per game, ranked 27th in the major leagues and won a league-worst 38 games. While Oberholtzer and Velasquez might not yield positive results immediately, Zolecki noted that acquiring two starters who could one day string together 300-400 innings combined for a late-inning pitcher who will only pitch between 60-80 innings per season seems like a favorable trade-off.
Oberholtzer started more games than Velasquez last season, going 2-2 in eight starts with a 4.46 ERA. Velasquez saw his time split in the rotation and bullpen, appearing in 19 games and posting a 4.37 ERA.
Per Zolecki, Velasquez was the fourth-ranked prospect in the Astros’ farm system and 69th among all prospects around the league. In nine appearances in Double-A ball in 2015, the 23-year-old dominated, going 4-0 with a 1.91 ERA.
A right-hander, Velasquez has a lively fastball that can reach upward of 96 mph with the ability to tail away from left-handed hitters. He pairs that with a solid changeup and breaking stuff that can really move when he’s on his game.
He showed just what he’s capable of in his major league debut against the Chicago White Sox, per MLB:
At 26 years old, Oberholtzer has had some trouble sticking with the big club in Houston over the first three years of his career. He went 7-4 in 12 starts in Triple-A in 2015 with a 3.86 ERA while splitting time in the majors.
He’s probably best remembered during his stint with the Astros for throwing at Alex Rodriguez during a game in June.
The lefty doesn’t have overpowering stuff. His fastball won’t go much higher than 90 mph, but he has some off-speed pitches that could baffle opposing hitters.
According to Brooks Baseball, Oberholtzer has a changeup, slider and curve that are all within four miles per hour of each other. With a nearly identical release for all of those pitches, it’s difficult for batters to recognize which pitch is coming at them.
You can see his arsenal in work here, per MLB:
Ideally, these two could become a solid duo placed in the middle of the Phillies’ rotation as the team looks to be in the process of building itself a nice young rotation that could be led by 22-year-old Aaron Nola, who went 6-2 with a 3.59 ERA.
The third player in the deal, Fisher, spent 2015 playing A-ball, where he hit .275 with 22 home runs and 87 RBI.
At 22 years old, he still has plenty of work to do on his game both offensively and defensively. His arm is average, which would be an invitation for aggressive runners to take advantage of if he does one day patrol the outfield and Citizens Bank Ballpark.
His swing, while nice, is a bit long, and he needs to work on making contact at the plate. If he can’t put the ball in play, promotions to the upper levels of the Phillies organization will be few and far between.
Moore Baseball takes a look at some of his swings during his time in A-ball this year:
It’s a solid haul for the Phillies, who are gaining a pair of arms that could make an immediate impact along with a bat they could possibly mold into a productive outfielder. After a 63-99 2015 season, though, almost anything looks better than what they previously had.
Stats courtesy of FanGraphs, MiLB.com and Baseball-Reference.com unless noted otherwise.
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