How Rob Thomson’s unconventional strategy has helped turn around the Phillies’ bullpen

For the first time in years, the Phillies bullpen isn’t a mess. And to hear the relievers tell it, much of the success has to do with Thomson’s usage patterns.

Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson points for a new pitcher during a pitching change against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, June 10, 2022, in Philadelphia.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

by Scott Lauber

Published Aug. 8, 2022, 4:24 p.m. ET

David Robertson walked into the Phillies’ clubhouse in Atlanta last Wednesday after being acquired in a deadline trade less than 24 hours earlier. He shook some hands, caught up with new teammates, and eventually sat down in the manager’s office, where Rob Thomson said he shouldn’t expect to be used as the closer.

Then, a few hours later, Robertson came into the ninth inning of a two-run game, retired the side on 17 pitches, and recorded his first Phillies save.

“I knew coming here they’re going to use me in high-leverage situations,” Robertson said the other day. “I don’t really care when. That just happened to be a save situation.”

Robertson isn’t the Phillies’ closer because, well, the Phillies don’t have a closer. Not really. Seranthony Domínguez is often the choice to get the last three outs. But since June 3, when the Phillies fired Joe Girardi and gave Thomson an interim promotion from bench coach, Domínguez has entered in the eighth inning (nine times) more often than the ninth (eight times). Seven Phillies relievers have saved at least one game. That’s because Thomson deploys relievers based on matchups rather than assigning them to pitch specific innings.

And here’s the thing: It’s working. The bullpen has a 3.91 ERA in 57 games under Thomson compared to a 4.15 mark in 51 games under Girardi.

The numbers actually understate the turnaround. Led by Domínguez (1.60 ERA in 41 appearances), the Phillies have seen consistently reliable performances from lefty Brad Hand (2.20 ERA in 41 appearances), Connor Brogdon (1.88 ERA in 26 appearances), and Andrew Bellatti (3.47 ERA in 40 appearances). Deposed closer Corey Knebel recently reeled off a 14⅓-inning scoreless streak that spanned nearly six weeks. Lefty José Alvarado has been more reliable since returning in June from a triple-A stint.

It could be better. Phillies relievers still have the third-highest walk rate (10.8%) among all teams. But for the first time in years, the bullpen isn’t a stomach-turning mess. And to hear the relievers tell it, a lot of the success has to do with Thomson’s usage patterns.

“He’s putting us in situations that are best for us to pitch in, really,” Hand said. “We’re all going in with good matchups. I think it’s smart.”

Here’s how it works: Before a new series, the Phillies have scouting meetings with hitters and pitchers. Thomson, pitching coach Caleb Cotham, director of pitching Brian Kaplan, and bullpen coach Dave Lundquist go over the opposing lineup and agree which relievers are best suited to face various groupings, or “pockets,” of hitters.

Domínguez is likely to pitch at the most pivotal, or “highest-leverage,” point in the game. If it comes up in the ninth inning, great. But if it’s the seventh or eighth, Hand, Knebel, and now Robertson have closer experience. If there’s a pocket of left-handed hitters coming up in the ninth inning, Hand is the choice.

Last Wednesday, with the Phillies trailing 1-0 in the eighth inning and Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. due up third, Thomson turned to Domínguez. When the inning was extended and lefty-hitting Matt Olson came to the plate, Thomson called on Alvarado, who got out of a rare Domínguez jam.

Once the Phillies took the lead, Robertson came on for the bottom of the ninth because two of the three batters (Austin Riley and Marcell Ozuna) were right-handed. Thomson later said Hand would have started the ninth inning if Olson had led off.

The bullpen happened to be fully rested that day. It usually isn’t. So, it’s helpful that the Phillies built a bullpen with multiple relievers who have previous late-game experience. But Thomson’s method also exposes younger (Brogdon) or less accomplished (Bellatti) arms to pitching with the game on the line.

Don’t mistake it for closer-by-committee. This is bullpen-by-matchups, and it’s working like a charm.

“It’s a little different,” Robertson said. “But it’s an adjustment that I’ve had to make over the years with the way that managers manage games. It’s a lot like 2017, going back to New York and I was not the [Yankees’] closer and kind of mixed in in all different spots and tried to contribute any way I could. This is a very similar situation.”

Over the years, most managers designated a closer for the ninth inning and setup men to handle the seventh and eighth. The dynasty Yankees, for example, had Mike Stanton and Jeff Nelson leading up to Mariano Rivera.

But Hand, a 12-year veteran, began noticing a change six seasons ago, when lefty Andrew Miller emerged as a non-closing relief ace in Cleveland. He posted a 1.47 ERA but only five saves from 2016-17 because the game’s biggest moment often came before the ninth inning. Cody Allen handled most save opportunities.

“When you have somebody like Miller that could come in in the middle of the game and totally shut somebody down, and then you have somebody you can rely on in the ninth, it’s huge,” Hand said. “In the past, you seemed to always have guys that were set. Just the way baseball has gone — besides [Kenley] Jansen, [Craig] Kimbrel, [Josh] Hader — there’s very few teams that has a set closer nowadays.

“It’s a way to win ballgames. We kind of know Ser [Domínguez] will have these guys, I’ll have these guys, you’ll have these guys. It’s a good way to run a bullpen. It’s been working. It helps that we’ve all been throwing the ball extremely well, too.”

Girardi arrived in Philadelphia with a reputation as a successful manager of bullpens. But Phillies relievers had a historically bad 7.06 ERA in the shortened 2020 season and ranked 25th in the majors with a 4.60 mark last year.

It mostly wasn’t Girardi’s fault. He didn’t have the horses. Domínguez wasn’t back yet from Tommy John elbow surgery. A slew of veterans, from Brandon Workman and Heath Hembree to David Phelps and Archie Bradley, came here and struggled.

But while Thomson has had better options, he’s also deploying them artfully. Girardi was often criticized for not pitching relievers on three consecutive days. Thomson takes a similar approach, but the Phillies aren’t in that predicament as often because relievers aren’t locked into specific innings.

And the success of the bullpen has given the team a greater sense of confidence. Last year, the Phillies were in first place on Aug. 8 and fell apart. They melted like ice cream in 100-degree heat down the stretch in 2020, 2019, and 2018, too.

Asked the other day why he’s confident the Phillies won’t collapse again this year, Thomson pointed to the bullpen.

“We’ve got a good club and our bullpen has really performed,” he said. “That was one of the things that we didn’t have in the past. We had a lot of letdowns because of our bullpen. But our bullpen has been really good, and it has been really good for a while now. I have confidence in that.

“We’re winning games at the end of games that in the last four years we’ve lost. When you have a bullpen that’s performing the way ours is, you always feel like you’re either going to win the game or get back in the game.”

It helps when the relievers are positioned for success, even if it’s in a less traditional way.