Phillies' Brogdon searches for fastball; third base decision soon?

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Connor Brogdon walked off the mound at BayCare Ballpark on Wednesday afternoon with his head down and his shoulders slumped. Joe Girardi walked over to the dejected pitcher and patted him on the back, as if to say, "We'll get through this."

Brogdon, a valuable, homegrown Phillies reliever, says he's 100 percent healthy. 

Girardi concurs.

But in three less than effective spring outings, Brogdon has experienced a drop in fastball velocity that could put his spot on the opening day roster in jeopardy.

Last season, the lanky 27-year-old pitcher averaged 96 mph on a fastball that he threw 44 percent of the time.

This spring, the pitch has been down about 3 mph. Brogdon allowed three hits and two runs in an inning of work against Detroit on Wednesday. He threw 10 fastballs. The pitch averaged 92.8 mph and topped at 93.3 mph.

"I'm probably pretty much as surprised as you guys are when I look up and see 92 on the stadium gun," Brogdon said. "I felt like it was coming out all right. The numbers just aren't backing it up. Before long, the numbers will increase."

Brogdon has pitched 2 1/3 innings this spring and allowed five hits, four walks and four runs. He has two strikeouts. Last season, he pitched in 56 games for the Phils and had a 3.43 ERA.

Brogdon is mostly a two-pitch guy with a power fastball and a plus changeup. He needs velocity on his fastball to offset the changeup.

"He's not to where we're used to seeing him (velocity-wise) and we're a little bit concerned," Girardi said.

Concerned enough that Brogdon might not open the season with the club next week?

"I don't know," Girardi said. "I believe he'll get better each time. I really do."

Brogdon could probably pitch at least two more times before the Phillies leave Florida. Team officials will watch him closely.

"Velo is down but before long, it will increase," Brogdon said. 

He is confident of that because he's healthy. "Everything feels fine," he said. He believes his velocity issues are a result of the unusual offseason, the lockout and uncertainty of when spring training would start.

"I feel like in a normal offseason setting, I would have been able to plan facing some live hitters at my local junior college, whereas with the lockout I wasn't really sure," Brogdon said. "I didn't want to be throwing live at-bats for two months straight and have the lockout run for a while."

Brogdon isn't the only reliever whose status for opening day is unclear. Jose Alvarado's status is also up in the air.

THE GAME

The Phillies lost to Detroit, 7-1. Kyle Gibson gave up seven hits and five runs in four innings. He struck out four.

Bryce Harper's third home run accounted for the Phillies' only run.

Bryson Stott started at third base and committed an error. He went 1 for 3 and is hitting .500 for the spring.

Stott is looking to take the third base job from Alec Bohm, who got at-bats in a minor-league game Wednesday.

With just seven games remaining in Florida and the Triple A team preparing to break camp for Tuesday night's opener, this decision could be coming very quickly.

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