Freddy Galvis hasn’t slowed down much since last season. The Phils shortstop played his last winter ball game on February 6. Nine days later he olleported to Clearwater… with a groin strain. Galvis called it “day-to-day” with little concern it would hold him back for long. He’s already participating in live batting practice and taking infield work… but felt the groin issue was enough of a reason to pull out of the upcoming World Baseball Classic (WBC) to focus on getting ready for the season.

This is good news for both player and team. There is no shortage of plans for what to work on with Freddy this spring. The team expects Galvis to focus less on the power numbers and more on plate discipline. Galvis walked just 25 times in 624 plate appearances last season and his on-base percentage was an abysmal .274.

While Freddy only hit from the right side 23% of the time last season, it’s where he needs the most improvement. As a right-handed hitter against left-handed pitchers, Galvis batted .217 with a .226 OBP. New hitting coach Matt Stairs has it broken down into two different approaches:

From the right side: “We’re going to make some changes in his right handed swing to where I think he needs to have a better balance. And that’s the biggest thing for Freddy is his balance, and this sounds funny but you think about with your stride, you think about stepping on some eggs, you don’t want to break them so you think about landing as soft as possible. Nick Williams has been doing great with it, so really, slowing your body down and trusting your hands and throwing the barrel to the ball.”

From the left side: “We need to have him realize he can’t be a left-handed hitter in his fourth year of baseball and be known as a pull hitter. I understand he had 20 home runs last year and he understands his pitch selection has to be better and I think that goes to the point coming back to where, how are you going to improve the on base percentage? Well, you limit the giveaway at-bats and your on-base percentage is going to go up. You’re going to see better numbers. With Freddy it’s just a constant reminder of, left side, be comfortable.”

Phillies coaches had their share of frustrations with Galvis last season. They tried to get him to use a lighter bat, which he did, sometimes… and manager Pete Mackanin had mixed emotions every time Galvis hit a home run. The organization realizes that when you’re in the money years of your contract, like Freddy is, homers pay more than on-base percentage. But Freddy has to realize that the Phillies only want to invest in a player who buys into their plan. As third base coach Juan Samuel put it, “Not going to crack ‘em right away. Sometimes they need to fail, but they have to buy into it.”

Being in camp all spring will give Freddy time to work on his approach, as well as give his groin time to heal, although nobody seems too concerned about it. Some thought his decision to forgo the WBC may have also been a slight case of J.P. Crawford-itis. There’s no better motivator than a top prospect breathing down your neck.

 

Catchers

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Despite an assortment of catchers in big league camp, there’s no disputing Cameron Rupp is the team’s starter this season. The backup role, however, is still undecided.

Among those vying for the spot is an old friend of Rupp’s, Bryan Holaday. Rupp and Holaday, who has spent parts of four years in the majors with three teams before signing a minor league deal with the Phillies, grew up ten miles apart from each other in the Dallas area. While they went to different high schools, they played together on the D-Bats summer league team when they were both 14. Rupp was the team’s catcher, while Holaday was a third baseman and also pitched occasionally. They frequently played against each other in college – Rupp at University of Texas and Holaday at Texas Christian University – and have always kept in touch. “Cam was about the same size as he is now. He was our big bopper, for sure,” Holaday said. “He was the first person I called when I signed here. We talked a little bit and went and played golf. It’s always great knowing somebody because it makes the transition a lot easier.”

Veteran Catcher Ryan Hanigan and Mackanin have been reunited, as well. Hanigan, a 10-year veteran who has spent most of his career in Cincinnati but the last two years in Boston, was a September call-up for the Reds in 2007 when Mackanin was interim manager for the team.

Then there’s 25-year old Andrew Knapp, the Phillies’ second round pick in the 2013 draft. Knapp is in his second big league camp and said if there was one thing he learned during his first camp last year, it’s to not try to win the job in the first three days.

Knapp appears to have the inside track for the backup job.

 

Technology

While on a road trip in Minnesota last June, Larry Bowa lit a fire under Cesar Hernandez. The young second baseman went on to hit .327 with a .421 OBP and .854 OPS the rest of the way. One change Hernandez has made since then is downloading video of pitchers on an iPad. Hernandez says this has helped him better prepare for games: “Sometime when I don’t know the pitcher, they put video on the iPad and I bring it home with me so I see a couple more videos of him and what he throws. 20 minutes before the game I can prepare good for the game and I think it helped a lot last year. You can see from the second half (numbers).”

Stairs understands the value in video and says technology is a great thing, but there’s a limit: “At times you have to step away from it. I mean it’s great to have technology, but let’s face it, when hitters start thinking too much, and I was the same way, you become dumb hitters. What’s the worst thing about when you start thinking too much, hitting wise? You forget the swing.”

I’m guessing Stairs wasn’t thinking too much here:

 

Adam Morgan

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With the starting rotation pretty much set, barring injury, and a plethora of pitchers in camp, LHP Adam Morgan’s best shot at making the team may be in the bullpen: “If the opportunity arises for me to go into the bullpen and there’s a spot in the bullpen, I’d be more than willing… if somebody goes down (in the rotation), I think that I could fill in and then when they’re healthy, move back to the bullpen, kinda thing. I’ve learned that making yourself as versatile as possible is the best way.”

When reminded that left-handed relievers have a pretty good shelf life in Major League Baseball, Morgan smiled and noted one particularly effective lefty: “I’m not trying to make any comparisons but Andrew Miller has done great.”

 

Franco will take the Stairs

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When asked who he’s most excited to work with, Stairs initially said “anyone who has a Major League jersey on,” but he did concede that Maikel Franco is high on the list: “I’m looking to see big numbers from him this year. I told him yesterday, I’m that little guy on your shoulder. I become a pain in the butt because I will remind you day in and day out what you have to do.”

 

Conversation with Clay Buchholz

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Philly is a tough sports town, like Boston. Does it make it any easier getting a fresh start in a city where you understand the fan’s expectations?

“A fresh start’s always good, ya know. I’ve been about as high as you can get in the game and I’ve been probably about as low as you can get, too, so I know that the two opposite sides of the spectrum are absolutely polar opposites, so you’d much rather be on top of the game, but it’s a tough sport. I try to keep it on an even keel and if I can stay even with everything, forget about the good and the bad and just have a short memory with it and go forward, that’s sort of what I’ve learned throughout my career and that’s the best way to go about it because if you get complacent or if you get over confident, that never turns out to be a very good thing, so I’m looking forward to a change of scenery and a fresh start.”

With the Phillies rebuilding and you having been through that in Boston, do you see similarities?

“I went through two rebuilding phases with Boston. Sometimes they’re a little bit more fun than others, but that’s what baseball’s all about. You’ve got such a young group, this generation of players coming up. I feel like they’re just as talented as the other guys when I was breaking into the big leagues are and a lot of them are better… they’re able to throw harder for an extended period of time. You see more triple digits on the radar gun now than you did ten years ago, so that’s a fun transition to be a part of.”

You mention how hard guys are throwing, does longevity lie in efficiency over speed?

“Yah, I’ve realized it’s not how hard you throw, it’s your command and control and execution of each pitch. It doesn’t matter if you’re throwing 85 or 105, if you throw it down the middle consistently, it’s gonna get hit. That’s just a learning curve that you have to take note of and hopefully stay healthy. Health is the main key.”

[According to Fangraphs.com, Buchholz fastball topped out at 98.8 mph in 2009 and averaged 93.6 mph. In 2016, his fastball topped out at 94.6 mph and averaged 92 mph.]

What about your personality is going to make you a good fit with Phillies fans?

“I try to get along with everybody. That’s the one thing that comes from being around people from different parts of the world. Some cultures are different and obviously growing up in the United States and growing up in Texas, it’s different than growing up in the Dominican and growing up in Cuba. I try to see where everybody comes from and most of the time, give everybody the benefit of the doubt. That’s my personality. I’m a pretty easy going, laid back guy, unless I have to jump up and holler or say something to somebody… I try to do that in a speaking manner and that’s how I am.”

That speaks to chemistry.  You’ve been on both sides in Boston where the team had a lot of chemistry and other years they had some breakdowns internally. How underplayed is chemistry sometimes?

“It can be very underplayed. When you have a group of guys that are around you and you lose two games in a row and everybody can still sit there and talk about the game… be mad but at the same time can still crack jokes and laugh about it, you gotta have a short memory with the bad things in this game. Like I said, learn from them, but then you have to forget about them if you don’t want them to affect you. I’ve been on, (teams) with a lot of chemistry. It’s worked a lot smoother than other times.”

 

Comments

Some of you may be wondering why there are no comments on my posts. The fact is, I can deal with them… it’s Pat Burrell whom I worry struggles with these false rumors.

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