Koyo Aoyagi, the Phillies first foray into the Japanese pitching market, made his pro debut with Lehigh Valley Saturday night in a 5-4 win over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The 31-year-old right-hander struggled through 2/3 of an inning, but the rest of the bullpen did their collective job to get the win.

The key to Aoyagi is his funky delivery. He has a delay in his delivery where he holds his leg kick in the air for a second or two before going with the rest of his delivery. What makes it especially tough is that he can vary the length of time he holds his position and sometimes, uses no delay in his delivery, which makes it difficult for hitters to get much timing on him. His delivery is sidearm, adding another degree of difficulty for hitters.

Aoyagi primarily stuck with his four-seam fastball that hits between 87-89 mph. In his 2/3 inning of work, Aoyagi’s control was a major problem for him as he hit two batters and walked two batters, resulting in one run. He recorded one strikeout, which came against Duke Ellis on an 0-2 four-seam fastball at 89 mph.

The four-seam fastball was the weapon of choice for Aoyagi, who threw 26 pitches, 15 of which were four-seamers. He kept his fastball between 86 and 89 mph and eight of the 15 that he threw were for strikes. His sinker comes out of his hand and looks like the fastball, but instead of the rising action of the fastball, the sinker drops, but the two pitches are thrown with about the same velocity. Aoyagi threw five sinkers, two of which were for strikes. He also used the sweeper five times in the outing, but got just one strike. The sweeper is 77-78 mph and didn’t seem to fool many hitters. Of the 26 pitches, Aoyagi threw just one changeup at 78.2 mph.

In the game…

  • Starter Seth Johnson started slow, but stranded three runners on base in the first inning when he struck out Jose Rojas to end the inning after giving up two singles and a walk. He opened the second by giving up a double to Andrew Velazquez who was later doubled off third when Duke Ellis hit a smash to short and Rodolfo Castro made a nice grab of the line drive to double Velazquez off of third. Johnson got the win, allowing no runs on five hits, one walk and five strikeouts.
  • While Aoyagi struggled, Austin Schulfer, Jose Cuas, Guillo Zuniga, and Devin Sweet threw three innings without allowing an earned run. Sweet was charged with three unearned runs after he threw a ball away attempting to make a play at second base. Scranton got a sac fly from Everson Pereira and a two-run home run by T.J. Rumfield.
  • Carson Taylor was 3-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI as he delivered two doubles and a solo home run to lead off the third inning. The home run went to right-center field and was 405 feet.
  • Garrett Stubbs made his first start for Lehigh Valley and was given a big round of applause from the fans. He doubled and scored a run in the sixth and hit a long flyball to center that was pulled in on the warning track in the eighth.
  • MLB REHAB: The Yankees Ian Hamilton made a rehab appearance and threw 2/3 of an inning, giving up two earned runs on three hits and a wild pitch. Hamilton missed much of the spring with an intestinal infection.
  • WP – S. Johnson (1-0), LP – S. Boyle (0-1), SV – none
  • HR: SWB – T. Rumfield (1 – 360′); LV – Taylor (1 – 405′)

The IronPigs and RailRiders complete their three-game series Sunday with Mick Abel getting the start for Lehigh Valley and Allan Winans going for Scranton.