Phillies (64-80) vs. Pirates (69-73)
7:05 p.m. on CSN
One night after outfielder Roman Quinn collected his first major-league hits, RBIs and stolen base, another top Phillies prospect will make his first career start Tuesday night.
A look at Game 2 of 4 against the Pirates:
1. Alfaro's starting debut
Jorge Alfaro will start behind the plate in the majors for the first time tonight, catching Alec Asher. It comes a night after Alfaro singled in a pinch-hit appearance against Pirates reliever Jared Hughes.
All eyes Tuesday will be on the 23-year-old catcher. Phillies fans may be surprised by his athleticism and speed, which is above-average for a catcher. With Quinn and Alfaro, the Phillies have two young players who can do more than it would appear at first glance. Quinn has underrated power for a speedster, and Alfaro has underrated athleticism for a slugger.
Alfaro had a solid first full season in the Phillies' system, hitting .285/.325/.458 with 15 homers and 67 RBIs in 435 plate appearances with Reading. He batted third most of the season, a spot ahead of Dylan Cozens and Rhys Hoskins.
Alfaro has never walked much and that is an aspect of his game that requires improvement moving forward. He had 22 walks and 105 strikeouts this season and has 60 walks and 289 strikeouts the last three.
MLB
But Alfaro's power and ability to make consistently hard contact may enable him to become one of the game's better offensive catchers even if his on-base percentage hovers in that .320 range. The Phillies are eager to see what he's got this month after watching him barrel some balls against big-league pitchers in spring training.
Alfaro's control over the run game is another thing to watch tonight. He threw out 44 percent of would-be base stealers this season (33 out of 75). Mackanin said earlier in the year that Alfaro has maybe the best throwing arm of any catcher he's seen in his nearly 50 years in professional baseball.
Alfaro bats eighth on Tuesday night (see lineup).
2. Asher's follow-up
Asher returned to the Phillies' rotation last week after pitching in the minors early in the year and missing 80 games with a PED suspension. He found immediate success, allowing just two hits over six shutout innings in a win at Nationals Park.
Asher pitched to contact and got a lot of quick outs in Washington. He needed just 75 pitches through six innings and 55 were strikes. But he didn't strike anyone out, he induced just two swinging strikes all night, and 16 of the 21 balls put into play against him were flyballs. That's not the ratio a pitcher who just learned a sinker wants. Those kind of peripheral numbers do, in a way, foretell some regression.
Against the Nats, Asher threw 32 sinkers, 23 sliders, 10 changeups and eight four-seam fastballs. It was a major departure from his gameplan last September, when he threw mostly four-seamers and got pounded all month.
Asher's velocity has dipped a bit. His fastball averaged about 92 mph last season but was in the 89 to 91 mph range last Thursday.
Asher and Alfaro have familiarity. They were both in the Rangers' system before coming to the Phillies in the Cole Hamels trade, and Alfaro caught him twice back in April at Reading.
3. Nova's new home
The Pirates' most notable move at the trade deadline was sending closer Mark Melancon to the Nationals, but they also acquired right-hander Ivan Nova from the Yankees in a buy-low move.
Nova, like A.J. Burnett, Francisco Liriano, J.A. Happ, Vance Worley and a few others in recent years, has found success in Pittsburgh under pitching coach Ray Searage and manager Clint Hurdle. In seven starts with the Pirates, he's 5-0 with a 2.53 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and two complete games. He's struck out 32 and walked just two in 46⅓ innings.
The Pirates like their groundballers and that is Nova's M.O. He induced 17 in his last start and 18 on Aug. 23. Nova's 53.1 percent groundball rate this season is ninth-best in the majors.
Nova showed promise at times with the Yankees from 2011 to 2013 but struggled the last two-plus seasons. The move to the National League and away from that bandbox in the Bronx should rejuvenate his career.
Nova will be an intriguing free agent at season's end. He turns 30 in January, so he's on the younger side of a weak starting pitching class. He's definitely made himself some money the last two months.
Nova's only career start against the Phillies came in his 2015 season debut, when he pitched 6⅔ shutout innings at Yankee Stadium.
The only Phillie who has seen him more than three times is Peter Bourjos, who is 5 for 11 with a homer.
Expect a bunch of sinkers and curveballs tonight from Nova. He's thrown his sinker 51 percent of the time and his curve 28 percent this season. His sinker and fastball range from 93 to 96.
4. Year of the Shortstop
We all know that shortstops provide more offense now than they did back in the day. But it's still been a strangely powerful year for shortstops, including the Phillies' Freddy Galvis.
Galvis hit his 18th home run last night. That would have placed him third among shortstops last season. It places him 10th among shortstops this season.
There are 18 major-league shortstops with double-digit homers and 14 who have at least 15. Here's how many shortstops had at least 15 home runs over the last four seasons:
2013: 3
2014: 3
2015: 5
2016: 14
Galvis is on pace to finish with 20 home runs and 70 RBIs. Jimmy Rollins is the only Phillies shortstop to ever finish a year with those numbers (2006, 2007, 2009).
5. This and that
• Over his last 69 games and 292 plate appearances, Cesar Hernandez has hit .325 with a .414 on-base percentage.
• The Pirates are 2-12 in their last 14 games.
• Pirates outfielder Starling Marte's absence has been felt during their slump. On top of being one of the game's best defensive outfielders, he's also the best base stealer this side of Billy Hamilton. Marte is hitting .311/.362/.457 this season with 34 doubles, five triples, nine homers and 47 steals.
• Pirates left-hander Tony Watson, the ninth-inning replacement for Melancon, has struggled lately, blowing two of his last four save opportunities and allowing six runs in his last 4⅔ innings.
