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Jake Thompson, once Phillies' top pitching prospect, says he's learning from failure

The team called up the righthander from Lehigh Valley. Thompson had a 5.36 ERA with the IronPigs.

Jake Thompson with the Phillies in May. He says this season’s struggles have “definitely been a good learning experience for me. “
Jake Thompson with the Phillies in May. He says this season’s struggles have “definitely been a good learning experience for me. “Read moreCLEM MURRAY

Jake Thompson entered last season as the top pitching prospect in the Phillies' system and a key piece of the trade that sent Cole Hamels to Texas. He arrived Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park as almost an afterthought, an extra arm for a worn bullpen. The last 16 months have been a challenge.

"It's definitely been a good learning experience for me. This is the first time in my career that I've really struggled for the better part of a season," said Thompson, who has a 5.36 ERA in 18 starts at triple A. "I think in the long run it's going to be good for me, learning how to fail and having to get back up and succeeding again."

Thompson, 23, joined the Phillies on Tuesday afternoon but is expected to stay in the bullpen for just a few days before returning to the triple-A rotation. The Phillies viewed Thompson as a potential back-of-the-rotation starter when he was considered a prospect. His path to the big leagues may now be as a reliever.

Consistency  —  and maintaining his flashes of potential  —  has been the righthander's biggest battle. Thompson was blitzed last month for seven runs in two-thirds of an inning for the IronPigs. And then two starts later, he pitched eight shutout innings. Two starts later, Thompson gave up seven runs.

"I've just had to train myself to be resilient. Just because I have a bad one, four days roll by and I have to go again," Thompson said. "So that's the biggest thing for me, just being able to stay even keel, not getting too down, not getting too high."

There is hope for Thompson, who may be able to salvage his season with a strong month in triple A once he returns to the IronPigs. Thompson has logged seven innings in two of his last three starts. He has a 3.29 ERA in his last six starts. Thompson said his recent success came after he learned to better utilize his change-up.

"Just throwing a few more strikes, that's been the main thing," Thompson said. "Just getting ahead of more guys, giving myself more chances to get some easy outs, instead of having to grind and grind and grind."

Pinto’s mistake

Thompson replaced Ricardo Pinto, who allowed six runs, five earned, Monday night in a 13-4 loss to the Astros. His biggest mistake may have been the first pitch he threw. Pinto entered the game in the fourth inning after a 1-hour, 52-minute rain delay and faced Alex Bregman with an 0-2 count that was inherited from Vince Velasquez. Pinto threw him a fastball and Bregman crushed it for a double. The inning spiraled downward from there.

"I don't have a problem with the fastball if you pitch like you have an 0-2 count on the guy," manager Pete Mackanin said. "[Andrew] Knapp called for a slider and he shook it off and wanted to go with a fastball. He wanted to go down and away with the fastball. If you expand the zone like that and throw your fastball down at the knees, that's acceptable to me. He tried to do that but just couldn't and left it up and down the middle."

Extra bases

Daniel Nava was out of Tuesday's lineup but was available if needed to pinch-hit. The Phillies are fielding interest from other teams and it is likely that Nava will be traded before the July 31 deadline. … Aaron Nola will start Wednesday's series finale against Houston's Mike Fiers.