Poor 2019 start got Nick Pivetta demoted to Triple-A in April
Each season in Major League Baseball is currently scheduled to last for 162 games. This means that the Philadelphia Phillies (30-21) will reach the 1/3 pole with their home game on Tuesday night against the Saint Louis Cardinals.
Each season in Major League Baseball is currently scheduled to last for 162 games. This means that the Philadelphia Phillies (30-21) will reach the 1/3 pole with their home game on Tuesday night against the Saint Louis Cardinals.
Over the next few days, I’ll be handing out the report cards for the first “trimester” of the season for each player on the Phillies 2019 roster. There will be a letter grade, along with a brief description of their contributions, including their relevant statistics.
I’ll be back with each player’s grades for the second trimester and the season to that point when the Phillies reach the 108-game mark. That is scheduled to come on July 31, the same date as the MLB trade deadline.
FIRST TRIMESTER GRADE: D
STATS: Four games, 2-1 record, 31 hits allowed including five home runs over 18 innings with a 16/8 K:BB ratio.
REPORT: Pivetta has to be considered one of the biggest, if not the single biggest, disappointments of the season’s opening weeks. Coming into 2019, many in the baseball industry considered the 26-year-old to be a major breakout candidate. After making 32 starts and striking out 188 batters over 164 innings a year ago, Pivetta certainly appeared to have the stuff to warrant such positive commentary.
But then the season began, and Pivetta got knocked around right from the outset. Working the second game of the year at Citizens Bank Park, the righty yielded four earned runs on eight hits in just four innings against the Atlanta Braves.
He would make three more starts, never going more than five innings, and was showing no improvement. That poor start got him demoted. With Triple-A Lehigh Valley he began to excel again. Thus far, Pivetta has a 4-1 record with a 3.41 ERA and 1.135 WHIP. More importantly, he is dominating minor league hitters for the most part with a 50/20 K:BB and having allowed just 22 hits over 37 innings.
Pivetta is a candidate to be promoted and return to the Phillies starting rotation when the club returns home on Tuesday night to face the Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. He appears to be ready for another shot.
Give us your feedback. Respond either as a comment to this piece or at our social media feeds. What is your take on him to this point? What, if anything, would you do differently regarding this player or their role if you were the Phillies manager or GM?
Originally published at Phillies Nation as "Phillies 2019 first trimester report cards: Nick Pivetta"
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