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For young Phillies pitchers, a 'very trying' time

The game moved fast last Wednesday. Jerad Eickhoff had faced the minimum in five innings, and now the first three White Sox hitters had reached in the sixth inning, with two runs across. There were no outs. The tying run stood at the plate.

The game moved fast last Wednesday. Jerad Eickhoff had faced the minimum in five innings, and now the first three White Sox hitters had reached in the sixth inning, with two runs across. There were no outs. The tying run stood at the plate.

Eickhoff badly missed with his first pitch. That is when Freddy Galvis darted from shortstop to the mound and urged the 26-year-old righthander to relax at the most crucial moment of his 34th career start.

The message stuck.

"I tried to slow it down," Eickhoff said. "Freddy came out and said I was going a little quick, a little fast. So he was kind of instrumental in slowing me down and making me make pitches."

The Phillies have played 128 games this season, and 98 of them have been started by a pitcher who is 27 or younger. It is why Bob McClure often thinks about the informal 100-player survey he conducted more than a decade ago.

McClure is the team's pitching coach, tasked with the education of a young staff. He pitched 19 seasons in the majors. He has coached for 20 years. In the early 2000s, while he was a minor-league pitching coach in Colorado's system, he kept contemplating one question: When does the game slow down for young players?

"What I mean is, it gets to a point where you more or less realize what you can and cannot do," McClure said. "You try to stay in those parameters. Runners on base, the batter, everything is almost in slow motion. It's just very calm."

He had an idea. But whenever he encountered a player with at least 10 years of big-league service time, McClure would interview him. He consulted pitchers, catchers, utility players, Hall of Famers. When did they feel comfortable? Some told him five years. One said three months.

The average, McClure found, was between a player's third and fourth seasons. Now this is inexact, and the findings could be outdated as the game continues to trend younger. But it is a crutch for McClure, as his young pitchers sputter because of ineffectiveness or injury.

"When you have this many young guys in their first full year, and a first-year catcher, it's very trying," McClure said. "But there is a lot of reward in it."

The Phillies will enter 2017 with questions on their rotation. Eickhoff is the closest thing to a lock. Both Aaron Nola and Zach Eflin are injured. Vince Velasquez has flashed moments of brilliance. Jake Thompson has not yet adjusted to big-league speed. A veteran or two should augment those arms.

Has there been enough progress in 2016?

"It's hard to say," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "Sometimes it takes a year of reflection to look back on it. The next year, you can notice a difference."

McClure, 64, relies on his principles and the countless examples before him. Look at Danny Duffy, he said. For his first five seasons and 92 major-league games, the Kansas City lefthander could not harness his potential. He was hurt. He went back and forth from the majors to the minors, the rotation to the bullpen. Now, at 27, Duffy resembles an ace.

"Six years," McClure said. "With that kind of arm, would you imagine it took him that long? No. But it does with some guys. Guys give up on people, say they can't do this or can't do that. It takes time."

McClure recalled a recent conversation with Velasquez, who told the pitching coach he had learned a great deal this season. He said he will have a better idea next spring of what it is supposed to be like.

That "it" factor is what enticed McClure to survey players. Certain pitchers, he has found, need to be pushed more. The stubborn ones learn through their failures. McClure sees some of that in his current staff.

"That's the best thing," McClure said. "The best ones are stubborn. It has to be shown to them that it's wrong by their own doing."

Mackanin agreed.

"You have to know what kind of pitcher you are and what not to throw in certain situations," he said. "You learn it hasn't been working. How to establish your fastball the right way. When to go to your secondary pitches and when not to. Knowing what the hitter did the previous at-bat. Reading swings."

It is something that will require years, sprinkled with moments like Eickhoff's sixth-inning adjustment as affirmation.

Updates on three

1 Andres Blanco: He should be back from a fractured finger soon. It makes sense for the Phillies to re-sign Blanco, who is a free agent, to provide a steady clubhouse presence for a young roster. And it's not as if he lacks on-field value. Just look at how the Phillies have struggled to find a replacement for him.

2 Tyler Goeddel: Well, he made it. With rosters expanding Thursday, Goeddel's place in the organization is secure. He had to stay on the 25-man roster all season because he was a Rule 5 pick. It cost him development time, but the Phillies saw enough in him to justify the spot. He started 22 games in May, then 22 in June, July, and August combined.

3 Darnell Sweeney: It just never happened for Sweeney, 25, acquired last August for Chase Utley. He entered the weekend with a .640 OPS at triple-A Lehigh Valley, has made too many mistakes on the bases, and has no set position in the field. His spot on the 40-man roster could be in danger.

mgelb@philly.com

@mattgelb