Skip to main content

Threshers Quotables: Viza, Jordan, Walding speak on pitching success

Tyler Viza, image- Jay Floyd
The Class A Advanced Clearwater Threshers have enjoyed some solid success on the mound in the early going this season. Combined, four members of the team's starting rotation (Tyler Viza, Elniery Garcia, Thomas Eshelman and Ranfi Casimiro) have combined for a 6-1 record and a 1.19 ERA through eight starts (two each). Additionally, another of the team's starters, Will Morris, entered action on Monday with a scoreless five inning appearance in his game log.

This week I asked the righty Viza about his own success as well as the great efforts by his teammates. Phillies director of player development Joe Jordan and Clearwater third baseman Mitch Walding also offered their thoughts. Read ahead for the exclusive comments.

Viza, who was the Phils' 32nd round draft pick in 2013, remarked about his consistent output-

My success through the early part of the season started around the all-star break last year. Aaron Fultz and I had a conversation about keeping the ball down and using all of my pitches from the first hitter on to get outs and not try to save anything for later in the game. Therefore it might be too late to use them. 
I continued my success last year into the off season and worked with my pitching coach from high school, Jamie Brewington. He wanted to work out with me this off season instead of just throwing and long toss. I'm in the best shape of my life and I'm continuing to get stronger and learn about pitching.
Viza also spoke about his satisfaction with his 2-0 record and 1.59 ERA after two starts-
I'm very happy with my results thus far because my team is getting the chance to win the game.

Viza shared some thoughts on if having his pitching coach, Aaron Fultz, following him up a level from Lakewood has been a factor for his success-
Fultz and I have a great relationship. It's always nice to have a coach like him that you can joke around with and also know that he's not going to beat around the bush about anything. I trust in him and I know that he trusts in me. 
The Phillies have great pitching coaches throughout the system and up.
Also, Viza talked about the Threshers' starting staff and how they can all benefit from one another-
All of our starters have been outstanding so far in the early going of the season. We all have a great time in the locker room together and outside of the locker room. We all try to challenge each other to be the best player on and off of the field. Every single guy on this team has each other's back and it makes things a lot easier out on the field. We all work just as hard and we all push each other to try and reach our full potential. Needless to say, our success isn't where it is right now without the defense behind us, the hot bats that we are swinging, or the bullpen locking down the late innings for the team. 
Jordan spoke of Viza and Eshelman specifically, but also the Clearwater pitchers as a whole-
There’s a lot of good arms. Eshelman, this is really our first look at him, but he’s as advertised. He can really pitch.
Tyler Viza...Tyler really started all this last year. His velocity is up a little bit. He’s always been able to pitch.
I think as a group, with an exception or two they’ve been very consistent and they’ve done a great job. And you turn the ball over to that bullpen and you’re going to win a lot of games. There’s a lot of power in their bullpen and, you know, so far they’ve closed most of the games they’ve had a chance to close.
Walding, after speaking about himself, commented about the Threshers' pitchers-
Our pitching has been lights out. Lot of command in the zone. Getting ahead of the hitters. Pretty dominant so far this season. Thing I love most is even if they get to a 3-0 or a 3-1 count, they are making the hitters earn their hits or they’re battling back and getting them to get our or strike out.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

PhoulBallz Q&A with Mike Stutes

Mike Stutes completes "The Reading Phils Mike Tri-fecta" over three days, here on PhoulBallz.com. Stutes, a 22 year old, was an 11th round selection by the Phillies in the 2008 amateur draft. Stutes, a right handed starting pitcher, helped lead Oregon State to the College World Series championship in both 2006 and 2007. Stutes and teammate Vance Worley are the first players to begin a season at Reading the year after being drafted since Pat Burrell did it in 1999. Stutes was the Phils' minor league pitcher of the month in August '08, when he went 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA in 6 starts. Check out my Q&A with the third Mike below. Can I get you to talk about the coaching staff and how they help you deal with ups and downs? They've been real positive with me. I started out good and then I hit a rough patch. They've stuck with me through it all. I haven't heard any negative words from them. Every day they try to come out, work with me, try to get me turned around...

Jason Knapp Q&A

PhoulBallz .com was fortunate enough to meet with Phillies prospect Jason Knapp just one day after he caught the attention of the baseball world with his 7 shut out innings, 14 strike out performance against the Indians' Lake County team. - I asked Jason, the Lakewood BlueClaw , for some thoughts about his big game... I had pretty good command of three pitches (fastball, curve, change up). I was on the same page with my catcher, D'Arnaud , and I ended up, ya know, I felt pretty good. - In a great performance like that, how much credit goes to Travis D'Arnaud , the catcher? More than you might expect, definitely. I didn't shake him off once. He told me what to throw and I do what I'm told. And if it works out, a lot of the credit goes to the catcher. - Does the lack of run support (Lakewood has scored 3 total runs in his 3 starts), in your few starts, increase your stress level, or enhance your focus? No, I just try to go out and do my job every outing. Ya know, we...

Yankees Fans Misled By Pepsi Promotion

**** Today, New York Yankees fans attended a Pepsi promotion in Times Square hoping for chances to win opening day tickets to the new stadium, but the tickets, which were difficult to track down due to poor organization on Pepsi's part, were actually for a game in June. Furthermore, the 250 pairs that were promised were actually only 100 pairs. The fans, who were made to sprint through traffic over multiple city blocks when locations for the promotion changed, quickly turned against the soda brand by pooring out their beverages and chanting anti-Pepsi phrases. Yankees fans are even threatening a boycott of Pepsi. An appearance by Yankee great Goose Gossage could not even settle the angry mob, as he had to be whisked away, as a precaution, according to the Daily News . Ooo , I'd hate to see what "the worst fans in sports" (Philadelphia fans) would have done to their free Pepsi cans and beloved reliever in that situation. Because this happened in a non-Philly city, th...