Phillies’ Griff McGarry focuses on ‘proving myself right’ as he moves to the bullpen

CLEARWATER, Fla. — When Griff McGarry was told that he’d be moving to the bullpen to start the season at triple-A Lehigh Valley, he wasn’t necessarily surprised. In many ways, he has been preparing for this all spring, even if his role was unclear at the start of camp. His three Grapefruit League appearances have been one inning or less. Instead of starting a game, he has appeared in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings.

“I’ve been coming out of the ‘pen for weeks,” he said.

There has also been a difference in strategy. As a minor league starter, McGarry threw five pitches, but in his outings this spring, he has thrown only two — with the exception of an occasional curveball. This is by design. McGarry and Phillies director of pitching development Brian Kaplan discussed going with a two-pitch approach in February. Kaplan showed him examples of starters who’d competed at the big league level with two or three pitches. They decided he’d lean on his four-seam fastball and hard slider, because those pitches moved less than the others.

“I think it’s more of being able to consistently have an idea of where to start the ball, where to finish the ball,” Kaplan said. “There’s days where the other pitches move so much, that it’s hard sometimes to have a start point or an end point.

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“Just because you can throw five or six pitches doesn’t mean that’s what is best suited for you. There are a lot of really elite relievers that can get away with one pitch, much less two. So, it was an opportunity to really take on that.”

The Phillies believe McGarry, 24, a fifth-round pick in 2021, has the stuff to pitch in the big leagues. Control has always been the issue. He struggled it with at the University of Virginia, leading to a move to the bullpen in 2021, and three years later, he’s struggling with it again.

But this time, he has experience — and a big league coaching staff — to lean on. Kaplan, pitching coach Caleb Cotham, and the rest of the Phillies coaching staff advised McGarry to develop a more simple and compact delivery last year. It has enabled the prospect to feel his mistakes a little bit more. His misses are smaller. He’s better able to work himself out of jams.

Kaplan also has encouraged McGarry to be more aggressive with the hitter, and to challenge himself to create more strikes. It’s something they’ve discussed after every Grapefruit League outing.

“He’s always been a starter,” Kaplan said. “He’s had some relief appearances in his past, but he’s always had a starter’s mentality, and starters, by nature, think about sequencing. They think about multiple times through the order. They have a lot more things to think about, outside of just being aggressive.

“A reliever is going to go in there for an inning or two and have a little bit of a different approach. They don’t have to be too fine with it. They don’t have to worry about sequencing as much. They don’t have to worry about, ‘OK, I did this with this hitter the first time. What am I going to do with this hitter the second time?’ There’s less of that process involved.”

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As he did with the two-pitch approach, McGarry has made a concerted effort to attack hitters. Some outings have been better than others. When he’s at his most dominant, they look like his March 1 outing against the Marlins when he struck out the side in the sixth inning. When he’s struggling, they look like his March 4 appearance against the Blue Jays when he threw 24 pitches, only 11 of them strikes.

And then there are the outings like March 10 against the Pirates. This is where Kaplan sees the most growth out of McGarry. He took the mound in the seventh inning, and started his day with a walk, a double, a flyout, and another walk to load the bases.

But then, he refocused. He powered his fastball and his slider through the zone to induce a strikeout and a lineout to end the inning.

“I don’t think he could have done that, mentally or physically, at the end of last year,” Kaplan said. “So, I think that’s a huge step forward.”

McGarry sees progress, too. He understands that his development is not linear. He has gotten better at tuning the noise out. Some days, it’s not checking social media. He tries to avoid reading or listening to commentary about himself.

“I think instead of proving other people wrong, it’s more about proving myself right,” McGarry said. “I know what I’m capable of. I know I want to be in this position. I know I want to pitch in the big leagues for the Phillies.

“So, I think the finger has got to point inward. Knowing who you are is a lot more important than the external things that go on.”

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He’s been feeling good about his delivery, after working on it all offseason, and considers that a win. This is not the path to the majors he envisioned. He spent most of his time at Virginia as a starting pitcher and was drafted as a starter. He’s pitched out of the rotation for parts of the last three seasons.

But nevertheless, this is the path he’s on, and he is excited for the next chapter.

“I think a lot of people anticipate ... ‘Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,’ ” McGarry said. “But it’s something I’ve done before. It’s something I’m comfortable doing. So, I’m excited for the opportunity. You know, maybe I won’t get as many innings this year, but I’ll get way more appearances. So, there’s a give-and-take.”

He added: “I feel like I can make an impact at the big league level. I think I can have success up there. I’ve had success out of the ‘pen in years past. So, I’m looking forward to helping Lehigh out and then … [if] my time comes, I’m ready for it.”

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