First impression: Solid spring debut for Roy Halladay
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First impression: Solid spring debut for Roy Halladay
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
Roy Halladay allowed a loud home run to Victor Martinez in his second inning of work, but the veteran righthander had an otherwise solid outing in his Grapefruit League debut. The big story of last spring was Halladay's velocity. A FoxSports.com report quoted a scout saying that Halladay's velocity topped out at 89 MPH in his third Grapefruit League outing. The observation ended up foreshadowing a rough season for the veteran righthander. Even though he started the season averaging 7+ innings with a 1.95 ERA in his first five starts, Halladay's velocity was a couple of ticks down from the 92-93 MPH range where he usually pitches. That lasted through the season.
Sunday, one scouts gun had Halladay's fastball sitting around 89 MPH, which would seem to be pretty solid showing for his first competitive outing. To put that in perspective, his fastball averaged between 90-91 last year. The same radar gun had Tigers ace Justin Verlander sitting 91-92 with his fastball on Sunday. Verlander averaged 94-95 last season.
We'll hear from Halladay here shortly, but for now, we can at least say that there were no obvious red flags. He struck out two and did not walk a batter in his two innings of work.
The Doc is in.— The Pack Leader- Hey Phonies..one word for you, Mets pitcher Zach Wheeler! get a younger team! Who cares about a bunch of oldies who won't go anywhere!— MRD
- MRD - obviously you can't count past one. Are all Mets fans uneducated like yourself?
— mbutley - So Doc is expected to throw 93 mph next time out? And 98 after that? I doubt he'll ever throw more than 89 again. He had something akin to a stroke that day last summer when he was pulled out with his face all red.— orange rhino
- doc will never be the dominant ace again....if he can adjust is see 14-16 wins is not......— malco54
- Uh,....you're predicting 15 wins for Doc and yet say he's not an ace,....15 wins in the NL East IS an ace,.....what world are you livin in— SyddBarrett
- Two observations. Once around the league and Zach Wheeler will go back down. And second, I will not agree that Doc is back until Warbiscuit says he is.— oakmontleo
- You're talking Mets?
And it's very important to us what commenters think of Roy after two innings. Please go on.— COskier - A few observations. Roy Halladay's first 2013 Spring Training outing was successful in that he went the two innings and kept the ball down in the zone (except for a VMart smash). Again, its his first competative outing after resting the back/shoulder. Give him time. Second observation, J.C. Ramirez will be a life-time Iron Pig. He simply doesn't have it. Diekman too needs to find his command. On the offensive side, Frandsen hasn't given up anything since last season. He is a true ballplayer who MUST be on this roster. Dom Brown knows its step up or get out time. He looks to be stepping up. Darin Ruf is trying too hard and it may get him a ticket back to Lehigh Valley. Mayberry Jr. still can't hit the outside pitch. Howard is actually running and Utley looks to be in midseason form (don't get hyped, mid season the past two seasons has been just getting on the field). The bullpen will need to be sharp. Looking forward to Lee, Kendrick, Lannan getting their first looks. All in all, much better looking than last Spring.— drhoffman
- 89 is enough with good location.— ACBaughman
- If he's 89 now he'll be 90-92 in midsummer. They all loosen up during camp and when it gets warmer. Let's just hope for a relatively healthy Halladay because all we need is a really good No. 3 starter. If he's healthy, being a good No. 3 starter for Halladay is about as difficult for him as it is for Kate Upton to look hot when she's wearing a bikini.
— therealeman - This doesn't mean anything. His approach could be more conservative given his problems last year and so his top speed may not indicate anything. Roy will be fine.— HeelYes
