Phillies pitching coach says bullpen needs to get ahead in counts and improve its mindset

It’s no secret that the Phillies’ bullpen has struggled this year (and last year, and the year before that). In 2022, they have the eighth-highest ERA in baseball (4.23) and rank third in walks (91). Manager Joe Girardi has mentioned a number of times that the walks have cost them, but there is a reason why they are walking batters at the rate they are.

Their bullpen is statistically one of the worst in baseball at getting ahead in the count. According to MLB.com, they’re getting ahead 0-1 just 47.7% of the time. That ranks 26th in Major League Baseball. For reference, the Mets’ bullpen is getting 0-1 counts 53.4% of the time, which ranks first in MLB.

The Phillies have the lowest percentage of 0-2 counts of any bullpen in the game, with 5.1%. The Braves’ bullpen is at the top of that leader board, with 8.3%.

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The Phillies are cognizant of that and are trying to address it. Pitching coach Caleb Cotham says that two of the biggest focuses for the bullpen are: one, trying to get their pitches in the strike zone with more regularity; and two, trying to improve their mindset on the mound.

“We’re always working to throw pitches where we want, but the primary goal is to always be ahead of the hitter,” Cotham said. “Hitters get worse when we’re ahead; they get better when we’re behind. It’s something we’re not good at right now. But from a command standpoint, it’s a mixture of deliveries, where we’re trying to throw, catcher targeting, and trying to get as custom to the individual as possible to get them in the zone the most. They know this. We’re giving them consistent feedback on it.”

The Phillies track each reliever’s miss pattern. The idea is that their relievers aim for the strike zone, and naturally fall somewhere else — whether it be to the right, to the left, low or high — but remain in the strike zone.

“Every guy has their own type of miss pattern,” Cotham said. “With some of the new guys, we’re just getting to the point where we’re starting to feel good about the ‘misses.’ Your eyes can tell you a lot: You’re missing on average this much, above and below and left and right, so let’s aim here more.

“It could apply to anybody, but when we’re behind in the count, the only way to get back in the count is by staying in the bigger parts of the plate. So, we’re trying to throw the ball sometimes aiming down the middle. Because we know through tracking and some data that very rarely do we actually hit our spot. So the more we are aggressively targeting the edges, the more we are bringing in balls into play.

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“A good example was last week, with [Jeurys] Familia. We started trying to get him a little closer to each side of the hitter. As he gets ahead in the count, he goes more to the edges. As he gets behind in the count, he goes more to the middle. The other night it was really good. It’s all about how fast can you get to two strikes while competing in the zone.”

Cotham hopes that over the course of the season, this will bring the walk rates down. He says their goal is to be in a two-strike count, or record an out with three or fewer pitches. That won’t always happen, of course, but that is what they’re striving for.

“I think it really boils down to mindset,” he said. “It’s having the belief, the trust, that I’m better than this hitter. I’m going to throw it across the plate. I think our situation has been a back and forth of wanting to perform and maybe trying to do too much and making the perfect pitch rather than just making a good pitch. And making consistently good pitches. But that’s been the conversation. It’s something that they know about and we know about that we’re working hard to address. But the only thing we can do is know that our best is good enough. We can compete in the zone.”