Struggling Aumont sent to Clearwater
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Struggling Aumont sent to Clearwater
Matt Gelb, Inquirer Staff Writer
At the end of spring training, Phillies assistant general manager Chuck LaMar and his developmental staff had a long debate about whether to send righthander Phillippe Aumont to double-A Reading or single-A Clearwater.
Aumont, the top prospect acquired in the off-season trade for Cliff Lee, had only made eight starts as a professional pitcher. He spent all of 2009 as a reliever but the Phillies viewed him as a starter.
The meetings ended with the decision of sending Aumont to double A. On Sunday, after 11 starts with Reading, Aumont was demoted to single A.
LaMar said he regretted the original decision to send Aumont to Reading.
“I thought we made a mistake,” LaMar said Sunday. “I told Phillippe that today. Hindsight is 20-20. But we probably put him in a situation that was extremely hard for anyone.”
Aumont was 1-6 with a 7.43 ERA at Reading. He pitched six no-hit innings in his fourth start of the season, leading LaMar and others to begin thinking it could work out.
Since that outing, Aumont has a 10.73 ERA. In 49 2/3 total innings at Reading, he struck out 38 and walked 38. Opponents hit .284 off of him.
“It’s consistency,” LaMar said. “His stuff is there, but at the double-A level, you not only have to have stuff; you have to have command of that stuff and be able to use it consistently. Right now he’s just a young kid with stuff who had to be able to use it. In the bullpen, where Seattle had him, you can come in for just an inning and go stuff. But as a starting pitcher throwing 100 pitches at the double-A level, you need to have more than that.”
LaMar said the team plans to keep Aumont as a starter. He may not start games right away for Clearwater, instead pitching three- or four-inning stints at a time to build his confidence back up with some positive results.
“We think he’s going to pitch in the major leagues,” LaMar said. “We think he’s going to pitch in the major leagues for the Phillies. We like his size. We like his stuff. We like his competitiveness. He also had to continue to gain confidence in himself. Ability can only take you so far. At some point you have to have results.”
A list of stalwart pitchers we've groomed in the last two decades? Kendrick? Bastardo? Carpenter? Sergio Frigging Escalona? Maybe I expected too much.— dasher- I agree with eaglegrn21. Ruben really put it on the line this season with these moves - World Series or bust. Right now, it's looking like bust. Blanton has been bad, Happ hurt, the offense is struggling and there's not bench. Unless the Phillies turn it around and win it all, Ruben should face a lot of heat - a LOT OF HEAT. Because he didn't have to deal Lee for this.— FireTMac&Wheeler!
- Youd didn't mention stalwalth pitchers, dasher. You asked bambam to mention pitchers the organization has groomed over the last ten years or so.— EL Zorro
- Sorry, el zorro, to me when you say "groom" it implies that someone is ready to be truly productive in The Show, not just a temporary callup or a borderline fifth starter. In more than a decade, the Phillies have done an abysmal job of producing top-of-the rotation starters and late-inning relief pitchers. I'll give you four of those pitchers on your list. I live in the Reading area and get to see, year after year, the constant procession of has-beens and never-will-bes that pass through the R-Phils.— dasher
From the day they traded Cliff Lee (and tried to confuse us by suggesting the Halladay and Lee trades were somehow linked, which they weren't) I've been saying it didn't look like a good deal for the Phillies. I never bought the "restocking the farm" argument -- I thought it was about money the whole time. So I am neither disappointed nor surprised that Philippe Aumont isn't setting the world on fire. On the other hand, I continue to be disappointed that the Phillies starting staff isn't the strongest in baseball -- which it could so easily have been.
