Skip to main content

PhoulBallz Interview: Lakewood pitching coach Brad Bergesen

Brad Bergesen, image- Jay Floyd
Joining Class A Lakewood as this team's pitching coach this year is former Orioles and Diamondback pitcher Brad Bergesen.  After wrapping up a 13-year playing career last year, the 32-year-old joined the coaching ranks this past off-season.

Last week I spoke with Bergesen about his young BlueClaws pitching staff including last year's second round draft selection Spencer Howard, starter Will Stewart, who is off to a hot start with a pair of wins and no earned runs allowed in his first two outings, and reliever Kyle Dohy, who has two saves and nine strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings through three games.

Read ahead for that full interview.

-What are you early impressions of this BlueClaws pitching staff thus far?

I'm super excited about this group.  It's a great group, a lot of energy, a lot of guys that like to work and are eager to learn, so I'm very, very excited about this group.

-Will Stewart with a nice pair of outings to open his season. Two big wins.  Are you excited to see that early on?

Oh, absolutely.  You know, it's a great start for him and I'm really pleased with what I've seen thus far.  He's got a great two-seamer, his change up has been a really effective pitch for him.  So, my goal is to help fine tune those and make him as consistent as possible.

-This roster last year had some buzz worthy names, pitching staff wise.  Sixto Sanchez, JoJo Romero, others. Are there guys on this staff that you could see becoming that next wave of pitchers that garner a lot of attention?

You know, I mean I'm not going to predict those things.  All I know is, like I was saying earlier, this is a great staff and I'm really eager to work with these guys and try to get them on to the next level.

-Kyle Dohy is a guy I wanted to ask about.  What are his strengths out there?

Dohy's been outstanding so far for us.  He looks explosive with everything he's been doing.  He's answering the bell in some big situations and shut the door, so I just continue to hope that he progresses in that role and continues to progress with the things that he's been doing, because he's been outstanding so far.

Spencer Howard, image- Jay Floyd
-Thoughts on Spencer Howard?

He's a great kid.  Great work ethic.  I'm really excited with what I've seen in spring training and what I've seen up to this point.  And I'm really excited to get out there with him in a couple hours and see what he's featuring tonight.

-With a few different guys getting save opportunities, are there any defined assignments or roles in the bullpen right now?

You know, it's still early.  Guys are going to work themselves into their own positions and their own roles.  How they're pitching dictates that, as it always does in baseball.  And, so, at this level, with them being young, we're going to let them do their thing and see where that takes us.

-Is there anybody that's a long reliever that might be able to slide into a starting spot if that need came up?

Yeah, there's about three guys.  I'll keep that in my back pocket, just in case it ever gets to that and that needs to be a last minute decision.  But, we're got a few guys that could fill that role. 

-Was there anybody on the staff that really stood out during spring training?

Honestly, being new to the organization, I've got no history with these guys, so I got to see everybody about two or three outings.  And at times I was truly impressed with things that I saw from different points of each of their outings.  So, my goal is to bring that out of them, the best that I've seen out of them, and get them to make it where that's their consistent release, their consistent delivery and be able to have consistent outings with the flashes of greatness that I've seen them have. 

-Normally, it would seem at the Class A levels the focus is mainly on the mechanics, those consistencies you speak of and things.  Safe to say that's your goal...

Oh, absolutely.  This is a developmental stage for a lot of guys.  We have a young club here as far as experience goes.  A lot of college guys, but you know for a lot of them this is their first full season.  And that in itself is a big challenge and a big learning process just to be able to handle and withstand playing 140 games.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2021 Phillies Top Prospects Countdown: #22 SS Casey Martin

Please visit Patreon.com/PhoulBallz in order to support my work, get access to material like this before anyone else and get access to interviews as well as other exclusive content you can't get anywhere else.   A third round draft pick last year, Arkansas junior Casey Martin was quickly signed by the Phillies and consideration as one of the organization's top infield prospects quickly began.  The team's confidence in his ceiling is likely evident in the signing bonus he got, which was reportedly $1.3 million, which was considerably more than slot money dictated by his 87th overall draft position ($685K). The right-handed batting Martin tallied a .311/.393/.545 slash line with 30 homers, 24 steals and 112 RBI in 143 games through his college career at Arkansas.  Reports had him falling in the draft as a result of an injury to the hamate bone in his left hand prior to his 2020 season.  Prior to the procedure, Baseball America projected Martin as a top ten draft pick.

Slick fielding Sam is the Champion of the (PhoulBallz) world!

Phillies Ball(z)girl Sam Arnone was kind enough to answer some questions for the PhoulBallz site and all of you. Sam will be entering her 3rd season as a Phillies ballgirl and is a junior at Drexel University. Sam hails from the great town of Mt. Ephram, NJ. 1- Since the Phillies are the World Champions of baseball teams, are the Phillies ballgirls the world champions of ballgirl teams? - Of Course!!! There are not that many teams that have Ballgirls, so the competition is a little scarce. I would definitely put my team up against any other Ballgirl team with full confidence! 2- What is your routine to prepare for a day of on-field duties? - Before a game, I am always a little nervous. Once I am ready to leave my house and head to the ballpark I triple check my bag to make sure I have my glove and then I check again. I always have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat because it keeps me full and gives me energy for the entire game. I guess I might have to find a new favorite sa

Rappers in Phillies Caps

Weekend greetings to you phine pholks out there. Today's post features pictures of rappers wearing Phillies caps. Why rappers in Phillies caps, you ask? Because... Any other questions? We will start things off properly by going with a highly recognizable hip hop star. 50 Cent stays constantly relavant by consistantly creating radio friendly material to help sell (G) units, while he "keeps it real" by still rapping about the thug life he lived before becoming the 2nd highest earning black entertainer in America. 50 is seen here in a recent interview rocking a throw-back Phillies cap. Next up we'll use a throw-back screen cap from what may be the very first major appearance by a rapper wearing Phillies gear. Chuck D, of legendary rap group Public Enemy, wore a Phillies cap in the music video for rap anthem Fight The Power in 1989. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack for Spike Lee's film Do The Right Thing . Next up we'll go with some home grown tal