Gregory Soto has settled into his role with the Phillies after a rough start to the season
The Phillies acquired Gregory Soto in a trade involving Matt Vierling and Nick Maton over the offseason, which was a tough pill to swallow for many fans who fell in love with the Vierling/Maton connection during the World Series run last October.
As it typically happens in Philadelphia, when you acquire someone who doesn’t “work out” or fails to live up to expectations, fans (prematurely at times) take to social media to criticize the organization as they keep eyes on the players they lost to another team.
What makes it worse, is when Maton and Vierling are hitting walk off home runs in Detroit, while Soto struggled to start the season, which is what basically happened over the first month of the 2023 season.
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While I completely understand the frustration, it’s also important to note that we are still so early into the MLB season and yes, the Phillies did struggle out of the gates with their pitching looking very “unserious”.
That however, has begun to change and as expected the Phillies bullpen has finally settled in as of late.
Phillies bullpen finally settles in against the White Sox >>
Gregory Soto’s Phillies debut was on March 30th down in Texas and all things considered, it was a complete disaster. The newest high-velocity bullpen arm allowed two hits, four total runs, and two walks, capping off a brutal 11-7 loss on Opening Day.
Overreactions: Soto was already written off and deemed a bust by the Phillies fanbase as cries for Nick Maton and Matt Vierling flooded the internet, which I understood, as Maton was hitting walk off moon shots out in Detroit.
Soto made his Major League debut back in 2019 with Detroit, logging a 5.77 ERA in his first 50+ innings pitched while allowing 37 earned runs. He progressively got better all the way up to last season, where he tallied his best season so to date, with a 3.28 ERA in 60.1 innings with 30 saves.
The Tigers, a middle-of-the-pack, rebuilding team, dealt Soto to keep their roster young, acquiring Matt Vierling, Nick Maton, and Donny Sands from the Phillies. Again, it was a tough move given the magical postseason run last Fall, but it was necessary to bolster a bullpen that was in desperate need of fresh arms heading into the 2023 season.
While it’s definitely still early, Soto’s best two games of the 2023 season have come over the last two days.
He entered game one of a straight doubleheader on Tuesday in the bottom half of the 6th and proceeded to light up the White Sox lineup, striking out two batters in a 1-2-3 inning on just 14 pitches (10 strikes).
Gregory Soto, Vicious Sliders. 😤
Taijuan Walker ran into some trouble in the 7th inning of yesterday’s 5-2 win, and Rob Thomson brought Soto in to relieve for the second day in a row, which wasn’t a problem for the lefty.
Soto threw two-thirds of an inning, striking out one batter on just eight pitches, six of them being strikes.
Yes, it’s still early, but when you consider the fact that Soto didn’t have a normal offseason, after dealing with long-going issues with his VISA which delayed his return to the United States and getting to Clearwater to join his new team, a slow start was almost guaranteed.
Soto threw in just two Spring Training games and had to miss the World Baseball Classic for Team Dominican Republic due to his arm not being in game shape.
Growing pains are a real thing in baseball, and that’s what we saw with Gregory Soto to start this season.
Since his third outing in New York, he’s totaled 6.1 innings, striking out seven batters while allowing zero hits. He’s averaged around nine pitches per inning over that time.
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So what’s working so well for Gregory Soto? He’s always been an off-speed pitcher, and the lefty tried a little too hard to get his fastball working earlier in the season.
Soto throws either a sinker or slider 92% of the time. His sinker is now moving like never before, and his slider has favored his approach against lefties to a point that it’s unhittable.
Left-handed hitters are hitting just .091/.231/.091 against Soto so far this season, while all opposing batters have totaled just a .107 average against the lefty.
Just look at the video above and again down below with Gregory Soto’s slider finally working
The Phillies bullpen was a sight to see at the end of last season, highlighted by Jose Alvarado and Seranthony Dominguez.
Now? Gregory Soto is right up with the big guns. Dave Dombrowski formed an unhittable lefty duo in Alvarado and Soto, and the Phillies have succeeded because of it.
The Fightins return home to open up a series against the Colorado Rockies tonight at 6:40PM.
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