After Friday’s washout, the Phillies were back at it on Saturday with a light morning workout, followed by another intrasquad scrimmage. The game was highlighted by Jake Arrieta’s encouraging start and a rocky outing from Nick Pivetta.

More on their efforts, along with some other observations from the park, below.

Jake Arrieta Looks Good

You’re probably not expecting much from 34-year-old Jake Arrieta this season, Phillies fan, and I get it.

But hear me out. Arrieta is very likely the key to the Phillies’ rotation.

Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler form a competent duo of arms atop the rotation, but what follows is, quite literally, question mark after question mark after question mark.

As Nick Pivetta, Vince Velasquez, and (possibly but unlikely) Spencer Howard jockey for a hold on the No. 5 spot, the Phillies desperately need Arrieta to bring stability to the middle of the rotation.

There’s no doubt he has underwhelmed through two injury-marred seasons with the Phillies, but there is some reason for optimism that he can finish the third and final year of his $75 million contract on a high note.

Fully healthy entering this abbreviated season, Arrieta is in line to make somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 starts. Is he capable of giving the Phillies quality innings in line with a solid No. 3 starter? Contrary to popular belief, recent history suggests the answer is yes.

Just go back to last season prior to the elbow injury that hampered, and, ultimately, derailed his season. In his first 11 starts, Arrieta pitched 70 total innings. He lasted at least six innings in nine of those starts, eight of which were quality starts.

A look at some relevant numbers:

  • 3.60 ERA
  • .252 OPP BA
  • .709 OPP OPS
  • 1.30 WHIP

Again, this isn’t to suggest Arrieta is going to hop into the DeLorean, stomp on it to 88 m.p.h. and land back in 2016 when he was a dominant pitcher with the Cubs. But can he serve as a glue piece to help sure up some of this rotation’s back-end volatility? I think so.

Further reason for optimism came in Arrieta’s 48-pitch effort during the Phillies’ intrasquad game this afternoon.

Arrieta, who retired 10 batters in three shutout “innings” of work, induced five groundouts and recorded a strikeout, while only surrendering a single hit and walk. He also retired the first seven batters he faced. A look at his lone strikeout of the day:

An Up and Down Outing From Nick Pivetta

It’s the weekend, baseball is back, so let’s keep things positive here.

The good news: Nick Pivetta struck out the side in his first inning of work, including this one of Didi Gregorius:

Pivetta was also efficient in his third and final inning of work, a clean 15-pitch, 1-2-3 frame.

But I can’t keep it all positive here. That’s because Pivetta failed to record three outs in what was a brutal second inning.

After getting Josh Harrison for the first out, things rapidly fell apart. The sequence:

  • Logan Forsythe: single
  • Nick Williams: hit by pitch
  • Kyle Garlick: RBI single
  • Adam Haseley: RBI single
  • Rhys Hoskins : RBI groundout
  • Bryce Harper: RBI double
  • J.T. Realmuto: RBI single

*inning called*

Not great!

Here’s the Harper double. The thing I noticed? How about this guy absolutely busting his ass to stretch out a double in an intrasquad scrimmage–one played in front of *checks notes* three fans who were hanging outside the gates beyond Ashburn Alley and seven reporters. Behold the hustle:

As for Pivetta, his final line was pretty rough: 3 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

It’s early, but with the season set to begin in less than two weeks, my guess is Vince Velasquez has the inside track on the No. 5 starter job right now.

Other Quick Observations

Spencer Howard’s Relief Appearance

Spencer Howard pitched two innings. He was greeted rudely by Andrew Knapp:

Howard would bounce back, later striking out Andrew McCutchen. A lot can happen in a season, particularly this one. Everything can change in an instant, but I don’t expect Howard to be a part of this rotation, at least early on.

How About That Andrew Knapp?

Knapp, who hit .213 a year ago, has put together a nice camp 2.0. He’s bouncing around a bit, showing some energy, keeping things light down on the field. I don’t know what any of it means–perhaps nothing–but he’s been fun to watch this week. One benefit of there being absolutely nobody at the park is that we’re getting to see and hear some of the personalities down on the field. Knapp has been good times.

Scott Kingery Is Back

I touched on this earlier, but Scott Kingery arrived at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday after flying into town from Arizona on Thursday night. The Phillies second baseman, who contracted COVID-19 following workouts in his home state, missed the team’s first full week of camp.

Kingery told reporters via an afternoon Zoom call that he expects to be ready for Opening Day. We’ll see, but he looks good. His increased size is certainly noticeable, which you can see in this clip of his BP swings from earlier today:

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