CLEARWATER, Fla. — Pitching coaches aren’t just instructors working with their pupils on deliveries, grips and release points in spring training. They are schedule-makers, keeping track of more than two dozen pitchers -- how many times they throw, how many innings they work and how much rest they get in between outings. It’s all balanced against the calendar, with daily precision, and geared toward opening day.
A rainout in spring training is a mere speed bump for a hitting coach. He can simply take his charges into an indoor batting cage and get some work in. But for a pitching coach, a rainout can be a headache, especially late in camp when a pitcher needs to extend his innings in game competition.
The Phillies' scheduled Grapefruit League game against the Toronto Blue Jays was rained out Saturday, but the headache wasn’t as big as it could have been for pitching coach Bob McClure. He did not have to juggle an entire staff’s schedule. He simply moved Jeremy Hellickson, the scheduled starter, back a day. Hellickson will start Sunday against the Astros in Clearwater. McClure had some leeway in his schedule because he initially planned to use a group of relievers in Sunday’s game. It's easier to find an inning here and there for a reliever than it is a chunk of innings for a starter.
Hellickson was slowed earlier this month by a flu bug that swept camp. He made his last start in a minor-league game so Phillies officials want his next start to be in a big-league game. Sunday’s start will be his second in an official Grapefruit League game.
Aaron Nola will start Monday’s game against the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland.
Before rain wiped out Saturday’s schedule, the Phillies reassigned two players, first baseman Brock Stassi and infielder Taylor Featherston, to minor-league camp.
Stassi was the Eastern League MVP at Double A Reading last season and will open at Triple A. We profiled him earlier in camp.