Maybe it was a little extra adrenaline from making his first start in front of home fans in Reading, or maybe it was just Gage Wood doing Gage Wood sort of things. On his 47th pitch of the night against Harrisburg, the Phillies top pitching prospect pumped up the velocity and hit 99 on the radar gun. Wood was impressive in a four inning stint with the Fightins in their 5-1 win against the Senators at FirstEnergy Stadium.
After giving up a leadoff double in the fourth, Wood faced Cayden Wallace and went all heat against the Senators’ shortstop. He opened with a 97 mph four-seam fastball, put a little extra on the next one and pushed it to 99, and then eased off and dropped the velocity down to 94 for the strikeout. The leadoff double would turn into the only run that Wood allowed in the outing when Sam Peterson singled to plate the run.
Wood used 50 pitches – 33 strikes – to get through his customary four inning outing. He allowed three hits and didn’t walk a batter, while striking out four hitters in the game. The Phillies are being cautious with Wood’s innings since the most innings he threw in college were 41. It’s thought that as the season goes along, they will give him a longer leash to operate with, but that has not happened just yet. The Phillies don’t discount the possibility of having Wood in the majors by the end of the season, but have not necessarily prioritized that as a goal for the 22-year-old who is in his first full professional season.
In the final analysis
There is no denying that the velocity and command of the four-seamer are there. Home plate umpire Caleb George wasn’t giving any of the pitchers the borderline calls and with no ABS challenge system at Double-A, there was no way for the pitchers to test him. Having noted that, the fact that Wood didn’t issue any walks and limited any damage without having the benefit of those borderline pitches, is a great sign.
Wood’s slider is good, but not where it needs to be for success in the majors. Again, getting some of the borderline calls would have helped. The slider right now is hittable, but it’s not a throw away pitch by any stretch of the imagination. Wood has continued to improve the pitch and will keep working on it. By the time the Phillies start to think seriously about wanting him in the majors, the slider will likely be a pitch that keeps hitters guessing and will compliment the four-seamer very well.
Throughout the four innings, Wood also showed off the ability to keep the ball down in the zone and got a pair of double-play groundballs in the outing. In the second inning, Leandro Pineda led off with a single against Wood’s slider before the next hitter, Caleb Lomavita, grounded a 1-2 fastball into a double-play. With one out and a run in for Harrisburg in the fourth inning, Wood got Pineda to hit into a 6-4-3 double-play to get out of the inning.
Wood will likely pitch Wednesday in an 11 a.m. game at Binghamton and then pitch Tuesday and Sunday (June 9 and 14) back at FirstEnergy Stadium.
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My seat-mates thought the four-seamer was rather flat, but i thought it had some nice ride and he was able to miss bats with it—albeit AA bats. The slider was a weapon that he was able to throw for strikes and also miss some bats. I saw a curve and a change pop up late but didn’t see enough to have an opinion. In any normal season they would let him get his innings at AA and maybe one AAA start, but who knows with this Phillies season they seem to be pushing all the chips in and there’s not a lot else in the starting pitching cupboard.