Building the Perfect Phillies Pitcher: The signature pitch from each starter, and what makes it special

After pitching six scoreless innings May 29 in San Francisco, Cristopher Sánchez was asked in English about being a part of “one of the best” rotations in baseball.

“La mejor,” the lefty said in Spanish, and no translation was needed.

One of the best? Sorry, try again. The Phillies, in Sánchez’s undeniably biased opinion, have the best starting staff, full stop.

» READ MORE: The Phillies got lucky with Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and their trade deadline outlook

The numbers back Sánchez’s bravado. Entering the week, the Phillies lead the majors with a 2.96 starters’ ERA. (For context, the 2011 rotation — famously dubbed “The Four Aces” — had a 2.99 mark through 84 games.) The Phillies trail only the Mariners in quality starts (48) and innings pitched by starters (498).

A look at the National League ERA leaders (minimum 82 innings):

Sensing a theme?

Wheeler, 34, is the alpha, with a rare combination of elite stuff, durability, and dominance in the postseason. Aaron Nola, 31, is the homegrown workhorse who hasn’t missed a start due to injury since 2017. Suárez, 28, is the goofy lefty whose varied pitch mix and previously elusive health complete a three-headed top-of-the-rotation monster.

But it was Sánchez who inspired this comment recently.

“If you grade his stuff out, it’s as good as anybody we’ve got,” manager Rob Thomson said. “The changeup is the best on the team. You can rival that with any of our pitchers’ best pitch, and it’s probably as good as anybody else’s best pitch.”

» READ MORE: Do the Phillies have the best Big Three starters in MLB? How they stack up to other formidable starter trios.

High praise, right? But it also got us to thinking: If we could collect and sort every pitch thrown by each Phillies starter — Wheeler, Nola, Suárez, Sánchez, and until recently, injured Taijuan Walker and Spencer Turnbull — what would be the optimal five-pitch repertoire?

“We have a lot of good sinkers,” pitching coach Caleb Cotham said. “We do throw a lot of fastballs, and they’re all good in their own way. The biggest thing that I’d want to take is our starters’ ability to mix [pitches] and throw strikes.”

Step inside The Inquirer’s laboratory — OK, more like our conversations last week with Cotham and catcher Garrett Stubbs — and let’s build the Perfect Phillies Pitcher. What might such a creature look like? Which pitches would he throw?

In the back nine of his career, Wheeler put more clubs in his bag, from a sweeper before last season to a splitter against lefties in spring training. Both pitches have become weapons.

But Wheeler remains a power pitcher at heart. He still throws his four-seamer more than 40% of the time, elevating it in the zone to lefties and throwing it in and away to righties. It remains effective, too. Opponents are batting .216 and slugging .373 against it.

“That’s my bread and butter,” he said. “You can have all the offspeed you want, but you’ve got to be able to throw your fastball with confidence.”

It isn’t only the velocity, which still averages 95 mph and scrapes 97-98. Cotham said Wheeler throws his fastball from a “lower release height,” which creates an uphill illusion for hitters. And Stubbs noted Wheeler’s unusual extension in his delivery.

» READ MORE: Where does Zack Wheeler rank among the best free-agent signings in Phillies history?

“For a hitter, it feels like he’s reaching out and throwing the ball from 45 feet,” Stubbs said. “That’s what’s gotten him that elite well-known fastball around the league and something he can always lean on.”

And he does. No matter how many new pitches Wheeler learns, there’s no need to overthink the game plan.

“There’s a lot of days where it’s like, ‘Hey, just go Wheeler,’” Cotham said. “‘Let’s establish the four-seam to lefties, just establish it up, and see how it plays.’”

Said Stubbs: “As a catcher, you trust the Zack Wheeler plan, and then from there you make those adjustments depending on hitters and lineups.”

Nola can uncork five pitches, including a four-seam fastball and a sinking two-seamer. He doesn’t have as much velocity as, say, Wheeler, so he relies more on precision control.

But when Nola’s curveball is sharp, well, it’s a long day for hitters.

“I’ll see hitters that, I know they’re sitting on the curveball, but still have no fear of calling it,” Stubbs said. “Just because it’s such a hard pitch to hit.”

Nola changed his grip in 2015 because the baseball in the minors had smaller seams than what he was used to in college. The real key, though, is the movement.

» READ MORE: Aaron Nola, a Phillie since 2015, relishes his journey with the team — and a role as mentor

Stubbs calls Nola’s curveball a “double breaker” because it moves on both the vertical and horizontal planes. On video, Cotham said the ball slides to the left, almost like a sweeper, then seems to “grab” before dropping. And when it breaks late, it’s effective even when Nola doesn’t bounce it.

Among pitchers who have thrown 200 curveballs this season, Nola is tied with the Braves’ Charlie Morton for the most swings and misses (99).

“The superpower is that he can throw in the strike zone almost whenever he wants,” Cotham said. “He can get swing and miss in the zone with it, so [hitters] don’t always have to chase it.”

Said Stubbs: “I saw Lance McCullers’ curveball when I was with Houston, and I would say it’s similar to where they throw it and it’s got this extra something on it. Most curveballs have a hump and you see it roll through. With Nola’s, right when you think you’re on it, you’re not.”

The Phillies have thrown more sinkers than every team save the Giants. It’s by design, as more hitters are getting their bats to fastballs at the top of the zone.

“Now the pitchers are making the adjustment again,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said recently, “and it’s being able to throw sinkers and get under barrels.”

Nobody in the Phillies’ starting rotation has a better sinker than Suárez.

“Me and J.T. talk about it, and it’s like, right when you think you’re going to catch it clean — and we know it’s coming — it’s got this extra gear that it’s hard for us even as catchers to stay underneath it,” Stubbs said. “It just drops more than anybody else’s.”

» READ MORE: Homegrown Phillies Alec Bohm and Ranger Suárez don’t want to go anywhere. Here’s the extension case for each.

Indeed, entering his start Sunday, Suárez’s sinker averaged 28 inches of drop, 3.9 inches more than the average sinker and 2.2 inches more than last season, causing hitters to swing over the top of the ball. When they make contact, it’s usually weak and on the ground to the tune of a .216 average and .343 slugging.

Cotham attributes the added drop to the angle from which Suárez throws the pitch.

“Even if he throws it right down the middle, it’s hard to get clean contact on that thing,” Stubbs said. “It’s one of the best.”

The pitch that inspired this exercise is characterized by unusual run and drop, according to Cotham. And because Sánchez is 6-foot-6 and left-handed, with long arms, there’s natural deception to his delivery.

But like everything about Sánchez’s 12-month rise from triple-A depth to a rotation staple, his changeup is a by-product of improved control.

Until he was able to command his fastball, hitters didn’t have to respect his changeup. They could lay off, wait for him to get in the zone with his heater, and tee off.

And now?

» READ MORE: Phillies, Cristopher Sánchez agree to four-year, $22.5 million contract extension: ‘His journey has been so remarkable’

“The fact that he’s throwing strikes with his other pitches makes his changeup that much better,” said Stubbs, who called 45 changeups out of 101 pitches Friday night in Sánchez’s three-hit shutout, the best start of his career. “He can throw it for a strike when he wants, and then when he gets to a count where he can throw it for chase, he’s able to do that.

To help harness Sánchez’s command, the Phillies convinced him to dial back his velocity. He still had an average separation of 10.3 mph between his fastball and changeup last season, and opponents batted .148 against the latter, tied for eighth among pitchers who threw 200 changeups.

This year, Sánchez has added back some heat, pushing his fastball into the mid- and upper-90s but maintaining a 9.3 mph average separation with the changeup. Opponents are batting .169 and slugging .191 against it.

“It’s really tough to sit on that pitch,” Cotham said. “And it’s really tough if you’re not sitting on it to wait on it.”

Said Stubbs: “Having a good changeup is the best pitch in baseball.”

Walker’s splitter would’ve made this list if not for a blister on his index finger that has prevented him from throwing it effectively. Likewise, Turnbull will be out for a while after straining a muscle in his back under his shoulder. But his sweeper, a trendy variation of a slider, has been central to his career revival.

And he didn’t throw it in a game until spring training.

“It really suited Spencer’s hand and it made sense, and he was able to show good ones,” Cotham said. “I think step one was, ‘Where do I throw it and have to start it to throw it for a strike? And when I don’t do that, what’s my adjustment?’ That’s been a lot of it.”

» READ MORE: Spencer Turnbull hasn’t been healthy since his no-hitter. Now he’s aiming for a revival with the Phillies.

Turnbull also had the confidence to turn it loose, throwing it almost as much as his fastball. He uses the sweeper primarily against righties to limit hitters to a .145 average and .226 slugging percentage.

It reminds Stubbs of another pitcher who picked up the sweeper after joining the Phillies and used it effectively.

“When Turnbull started throwing his sweeper, my mind went to Kyle Gibson,” Stubbs said. “End of the year in ‘22, he learned his sweeper. It kind of transformed him. This was the same thing. I tried to give him that confidence in spring training and ease him in to, ‘Hey, this is your pitch.’ And he bought into it very quickly, and it’s done really well for him.”