José Alvarado strikes out two in first rehab outing
It’s hard to know what José Alvarado will look like when he returns to the Phillies on Aug. 19, and that is still the case after Alvarado’s first rehab outing with Lehigh Valley.
That rehab is off to a good start, though. Alvarado struck out two Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders for the IronPigs on Thursday, allowing one hit in a scoreless sixth inning. (He only faced those three batters, thanks to a Garrett Stubbs caught stealing.)
Velocity wise, Alvarado’s stuff was not far off from where it was when he posted a 2.70 ERA with 25 strikeouts in 20 innings before his suspension. His sinker averaged 98.2 mph on Thursday; it was 99.3 with the Phillies. His one curveball was half a mph lower than his average this year. His cutter (90.7 mph vs. 93.7), in fairness, was down.
Alvarado was around the zone, yet away from the middle of it. He threw 8 of 12 pitches in the strike zone.
It was a good sign for his first live-game action in 83 days, because in an ideal world, Alvarado is the Phillies’ second-best reliever for the final 37 games of the season. The Phillies may trot Alvarado out in lower-leverage opportunities for his first couple of games back, just to get him reacclimated, but there’s perhaps a sense of urgency in getting him back to his typical late-game role. His sixth through eighth games back are against the Mets, for what it’s worth.
Another piece of the late-August and September bullpen equation — but, in his case, likely also October — had a solid yet brief outing of his own for the IronPigs on Thursday. The pitcher Alvarado relieved was David Robertson, who struck out his only batter (Yankees No. 4 prospect Spencer Jones) the day after striking out two.
It was the first back-to-back of Robertson’s age-40 season, and he was up to 92.6 mph. His velocity has started to approach the 93-94 range the Phillies would like to see. Perhaps he’s closer to the end of his IronPigs run than the start of it. In any case, it was a solid night for a pair of bullpen arms who should soon be thrust into the thick of a division chase.