In terms of innings, Cade Obermueller‘s debut was a short one. In terms of pitches, let’s just say he got some work in. The Phillies selected Obermueller in the second round of last year’s draft, the same round that Kansas City took his dad, Wes Obermueller in back in 1999. The elder Obermueller went with the seventh pick in the round, while Cade Obermueller went with the 20th pick, so dad still has bragging rights.
The Phillies pitching prospect pitched just one inning, but threw 32 pitches in his professional debut recently. Pitching in Clearwater against the Tampa Tarpons, Obermueller allowed two hits and two walks, while technically still striking out the side with three strikeouts. In the end, the left-hander did allow just one earned run and a bad throw to second to try to catch a base stealer didn’t help him out.
Leadoff hitter Jackson Lovich walked on four pitches and then stole second and went to third on the bad throw from catcher Alirio Ferrebus. Obermueller came back to strike out the next two hitters. That’s when things started to fall apart. First was an RBI single on a 3-2 pitch to Willy Montero. Ediel Rivera then singled and Obermueller loaded the bases by walking Luis Durango on five pitches. He finished the inning with a three-pitch strikeout of Gabriel Lara.
Overall, the fact that he worked out of it with just one run allowed and came back to strike out Lara when he needed a big out, are things for Obermueller to build on.
At 6′ 0″, 170 pounds, Obermueller had his fastball in the mid-90s and got better movement with the pitch as the inning went on. He also showed a low-80s slider that also improved as the inning went on and had good horizontal break. The changeup, a work in progress, was used sparingly.
Much of the struggles can likely be attributed to some nerves as he looked more comfortable as the inning progressed even though he had baserunners. The strikeout of Lara was more along the lines of what the Phillies liked about Obermueller coming out of the University of Iowa.
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