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Morgan gets chance to fit into Phillies' rotation

Eleven starting pitchers were used in the first 91 games of this dismal Phillies season, and most of those who made up baseball's worst first-half rotation do not figure to play a part in the rebuilding club's future.

Adam Morgan has a 1-2 record, with a 4.32 ERA in three starts this season. He has surrendered 17 hits, five of them home runs, in 162/3 innings. YONG KIM / Staff Photographer
Adam Morgan has a 1-2 record, with a 4.32 ERA in three starts this season. He has surrendered 17 hits, five of them home runs, in 162/3 innings. YONG KIM / Staff PhotographerRead more

Eleven starting pitchers were used in the first 91 games of this dismal Phillies season, and most of those who made up baseball's worst first-half rotation do not figure to play a part in the rebuilding club's future.

Amid the presence of stopgap starters such as Aaron Harang, Jerome Williams and Kevin Correia, the average age of the Phillies' first-half starters was 291/2 years old. This is in part why fans have long clamored to see top pitching prospect Aaron Nola, the 22-year-old righthander who is likely to garner a promotion in the coming weeks.

It's also a reason to watch Adam Morgan in the season's second half, which opens Friday night with the 25-year-old lefthander on the Citizens Bank Park mound against the fourth-place Miami Marlins. Morgan and the recently recalled David Buchanan, 26, are the lone starters in the Phillies' rotation younger than 30.

Morgan is far from establishing himself as a major-league pitcher but has a chance to prove himself as a back-of-the-rotation arm for the future. He was once the Phillies' top pitching prospect in a depleted farm system - Baseball America ranked him fifth in the Phils' system after the 2012 season - before a January 2014 shoulder surgery derailed his ascent.

Even before his injury, Morgan was a pitcher who relied on command and mixing his pitches rather than overpowering hitters. But he has made do this season with diminished velocity from his pre-surgery days. His first three big-league starts yielded a 4.32 ERA.

Morgan mostly uses three pitches - a fastball that averages a shade less than 90 m.p.h. (it topped out this season at 91.7), a slider and a change-up. He enters Friday's start with 12 strikeouts and five walks over 162/3 innings. Although he pitched well enough to win in two of his three starts, he has allowed 17 hits and five home runs.

"You pull for Adam Morgan because of the way he goes about his business and his competitiveness," Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said before Morgan's last start. "The fact that he doesn't have the same velocity or maybe overall stuff that he had when he was probably our best pitching prospect, the way he's handled himself so far, you have to respect that and hope that it continues."

Last Wednesday, the Dodgers tagged Morgan for five runs and six hits over four innings. Jimmy Rollins and A.J. Ellis homered off the former third-round draft pick out of Alabama. Morgan noted afterward he "felt off a little bit" and lamented falling behind hitters too often and "trying to pick too much."

"He's allowed to not be sharp once in a while, especially when you're a rookie," Phillies interim manager Pete Mackanin said that night. "I think he's better than he pitched today. I think he's more like the last two starts than he was today."

Friday's start will be Morgan's second at Citizens Bank Park. For the second consecutive turn he draws a super-tough matchup. Last week he opposed reigning National League MVP and three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw. This week it's former NL rookie of the year Jose Fernandez, making his third start after returning from Tommy John surgery.

Nola's rough night

Nola lasted only three innings Thursday for triple-A Lehigh Valley in Rochester, N.Y. He allowed seven hits and six runs, including two homers, as his ERA climbed to 3.58.

Kilome draws praise

In its midseason rankings released Thursday, Baseball America ranked 20-year-old righthander Franklyn Kilome as the Phillies' third-best prospect behind shortstop J.P. Crawford and Nola. Reading righthanders Zach Eflin and Ben Lively rounded out the publication's top five.