Walker Buehler’s Return: Insights from His Debut with Lehigh Valley

You have to figure that when Walker Buehler signed a one-year, $21-million deal with the Red Sox over the winter, he figured to be pitching in places like Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, maybe Dodgers Stadium or Wrigley Field. Instead, Buehler arrived Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, PA on Friday and after a short bullpen session took the opportunity to meet his new, temporary teammates with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. While Coca-Cola Park is a nice place, it lacks the excitement and attention that those other parks have. For Buehler though it was a quick stop on his way to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia where he hopes to spend more time than he will in Allentown.

Saturday night went okay for Buehler’s debut in the Phillies organization. The numbers aren’t horrible – one earned run in three innings of work – but there were some underlying numbers and facts that didn’t bode well. First, is the fact that everything was hit hard, even the routine outs were barreled up by the Toledo Mud Hens. It started with leadoff hitter Hao-Yu Lee, the number seven prospect in the Tigers organization. Lee took a 3-2 four-seam fastball and deposited it over the 17-foot high wall in right field to give Toledo a 1-0 lead. The pitch was left up in the zone and Lee didn’t miss it, taking it 367-feet the opposite way.

The second issue was pitch count. It took Buehler 78 pitches – 47 for strikes – to get through three innings. He produced innings of 24 pitches, 33, and 21 in his outing. It needs to be noted though that a fielding error on shortstop Rodolfo Castro – his 21st of the season – led to Buehler throwing an additional 17 pitches in the second inning where he gave up an additional single and a walk that led to an unearned run.

There were positives though. Even though he gave up a hit – a home run, single, and triple – to start each inning, Buehler threw 12 first pitch strikes to the 18 hitters he faced. The leadoff triple in the third by Gage Workman led to what Buehler saw as a good sign.

“I think the third inning triple and then coming back to get two punchouts, it’s been a while since I felt like I could turn it on and get through something like that,” said Buehler. “So, there’s some stuff to work on.”

Throughout his career, Buehler has had a dominating four-seam fastball that generally rides in the mid-90s. The 31-year-old threw 30 four-seamers to hitters that were between 91 mph and 93.6 mph with most being in the 92-93 range. Buehler’s curveball generally is between 80-82 mph, but Saturday night the five that he threw were lower between 75.7 and 78.5. In general, Buehler had good results with the pitch as he got two swings and misses – one for a strikeout – a foul ball, a ball, and a single in the first by Jace Jung.

Statcast identified seven different pitches thrown by Buehler:

Buehler’s final line against Toledo: 3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 HR, 18 BF, 78 pitches/47 strikes, 12 of 18 first pitch strikes.

“I haven’t started a baseball game in a couple of weeks,” said Buehler with a smile. “The pitch count was about where we wanted, but the innings weren’t. All in all, I think some of the adjustments that we’re working through the past few days have kind of clicked in a little bit. I think there’s some stuff that was drastically improved and I think I’m at a spot where I can compete and that’s something I haven’t felt for a while.”

As it turns out, when Buehler was released by Boston, Philadelphia was one of the spots that he and his agent had zeroed in on as a potential destination. Obviously, the Phillies took a quick shine to Buehler, who signed with the team just two days after being released. One reason the Phillies signed Buehler was the recommendation of pitching coach Caleb Cotham. Both attended Vanderbilt University, although not at the same time. Buehler was also aware of Cotham’s strong reputation as a pitching coach and the pair bonded quickly as “Vandy Boys” and are looking forward to working together.

“When I signed here – I’ve known Caleb a long time through the connection with Vanderbilt – and we walked in and said ‘hey, what do you think,?’ and ‘what do I think?’ We’ve found many ways that we can stimulate what we want to get out of it and have a good end of the year,” said Buehler, who is scheduled for his first start with the Phillies on September 12th against the Kansas City Royals in Philadelphia. At that time, the Phillies are planning on going to a six-man rotation. “I’m excited about coming to this organization. This is a place that I was kind of looking forward to having conversations with this offseason. It’s kind of wild how it all works out, but I’m very happy to be here.”

The struggles that Buehler has had this season are new to him. When the Red Sox released him on August 29th, it was the first time in his career that had happened. He took it all in stride though and trusted in his agent for the next step.

“I just kind of sat around my house and drank beer,” admitted Buehler. “I’ve never been through this stuff before, so I was talking to my agent and trying to figure out how we handle this. Obviously, there are guys who go through this stuff a ton and I have been very fortunate to not. At the end of the day this game will kind of tell you when you’re in a different spot than where you used to be, so I’m fortunate to be in a place that wants to help me get back to where I used to be.”

“For me, it’s all about extension and getting my arm up high and I think that since the surgery, I have been kind of rotational and kind of spinny,” said Buehler. “If you look back at the first five years of my career, I didn’t miss left very much; I didn’t pull many balls and in my last two years I’ve pulled more balls than I have in my pro and college career combined. It’s a result of spinning the way I was, so we’re trying to get me into a position where when I spin and rotate, it’s downward and I keep my arm up which will eliminate some of that leftness. Tonight, there weren’t many of those misses outside of breaking balls, which I’m kind of okay with.”