Saturday, May 26, 2007

Phillies young relievers get the job done

After the Phillies opened up a four run lead old man Charlie decided to air out the back end of his bullpen. Michael Zagurski who the Phils called up after they placed Brett Myers on the DL pitched a scoreless eighth and Yoel Hernandez threw a clean ninth. Zagurski rocketed through the minors. Starting at Clearwater and then moving to Reading he caught the attention of the Phillies brass striking out 43 batters in 23.1 innings. Michael was mediocre while pitching in college at the University of Kansas. Despite his weak college stats he has gotten better every year in the Phillies farm system. On top of all that Zagurski the lone southpaw in the bullpen can help get left handers out.

I’m a big Yoel Hernandez fan. He has great minor league numbers and will no doubt help the Phillies in the future. The question is whether he can help out in the present. Without both Myers and Gordon the Phillies the bullpen is in shambles. This will force Charlie to use both Hernandez and Zagurski. The Phillies need someone to step up and maybe that someone can either Zagurski or Hernandez.

Source:
Picture of Yoel Hernandez from MLB.com

2 comments:

GM-Carson said...

Zagurski is already a favorite of mine just because he actually threw strikes. That's the first time a left handed reliever has done that all season.

I'm hoping Yoel continues to settle into a role and become valuable.

icarus236 said...

Throwing strikes definitely helps. Perhaps one of the Phillies coaches should have said something to Matt Smith.