May 6, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Orion Kerkering (50) follows through on a pitch during the ninth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
When Jose Alvarado abruptly left the Phillies earlier this week, the thought was that the Phillies would be a lefty short in the bullpen.
Rob Thomson will tell you otherwise.
No, he's not talking about elevating Tanner Banks into more of a high-leverage role while Alvarado is gone. Yes, the lefty acquired from the White Sox at the trade deadline was brought in to take down lefty hitters - and was viewed as an upgrade to Gregory Soto, who was traded to Baltimore the same day.
Yes, Banks will see some more opportunities, but most of the late game looks against lefties will go to Matt Strahm and another "lefty," Orion Kerkering.
“I look at it like Kerkering is kind of a lefty, too, because he’s got good splits against lefties,” Thomson said. “So, really, we still have three lefties in the 'pen in my mind.”
Orion Kerkering, Filthy 85mph Sweeper. 😷 pic.twitter.com/gvfBxv51ef
At first glance, those splits aren't great.
In 95 mano y mano matchups with lefties this season, Kerkering is being hit around a bit. Lefties are slashing .266/.372/.392 against him for a .765 OPS. On top of that, the two homers Kerkering has allowed in his brief major league career have both come against lefties.
But those numbers are a bit misleading.
They are bolstered by a nine-game stretch after the All-Star break where everybody was hitting Kerkering, regardless of their handedness. But, as a point of order, in those nine games lefties batted .500 off of him.
But if you look at his numbers before the break and since that nine-game stretch, you'll find that Thomson was pretty spot on about Kerkering being good against southpaws.
Before the All-Star break:
.232/.317/.268; .585 OPS.
Since August 8th:
.207/.233/.345; .578 OPS.
Those numbers are pretty good. But why does his stuff profile so well against lefties coming from the opposite side?
I asked him.
"I think perception-wise between the two-seam and the slider is a little different for lefties," Kerkering said. "They're a little more 'at them' and I think that helps."
In other words, the pitches are riding in on lefties, which is uncomfortable, especially coming with the velocity and the movement that his pitches have. It's evident by how much swing and miss he generates. In 79 at bats (not counting walks, hit batters and sacrifices), Kerkering has struck out 29 batters. He also generates some weak contact against them as they take awkward swings on balls bearing in on their knuckles.
Orion Kerkering ⛽️
The one negative though is Kerkering throws a lot more pitches against lefties than righties. He's walked 10 lefties this season compared to only three righties.
Two 99mph Heaters and a 95mph Two Seamer with 19 inches of run. pic.twitter.com/q0yeVmApYS
"It's around 10 percent, which is a little more than average," Kerkering said. "I just need to keep attacking and not really try to expand (the strike zone) too early in counts. I just got to throw it in there. I'm not afraid to throw strikes, but don't be afraid if they hit a ball in an early count. Even if they swing at that, 70 percent of the time it's going to be an out. So, I just got to build off that line of thinking."
It's worked recently.
On Monday against Houston, with a runner on first and two outs in a tie game, Thomson left Kerkering in to face the always-dangerous lefty Yordan Alvarez.
Yeah, the same guy who hit three home runs in a game against the Phillies two days later.
Kerkering threw Alvarez four straight sweepers and got him to ground out to first base to end the threat.
On Saturday, Kerkering faced Kansas City’s Vinnie Pasquantino. He threw him a sweeper to start, but then followed with two 99 MPH fastballs, the last of which resulted in a ground out to second.
And then there was last Wednesday, the lone win the Phillies got in Atlanta. He faced two lefties in the bottom of the eighth while protecting a one-run lead.
He struck out Matt Olson with a 97 MPH fastball at the bottom of the strike zone and got Jarred Kelenic to fly out to center field on a sweeper up in the zone.
"With Yordan, he's obviously a great hitter, but I didn't need to absolutely locate my pitch every single time," Kerkering said. "But as long as I execute the pitch and put it in a general area, I'll do what I need to do."
Does he want to be a lefty specialist like this going forward?
"Hopefully (the splits) even out a little bit," Kerkering said. "But either way, it doesn't matter if the batter is left-handed or right-handed, I just got to go get outs."
