Phillies: Addressing 14 pitching worries for the 2019 campaign

Best of the bunch:             

When the Phillies reactivate David Robertson, he will return to critical opportunities after two lower-leverage situations to ease into a preferred role. Hopefully, he’ll pick things up from his last four consecutive scoreless outings. Plus he lowered his ERA to 5.40 with two holds.

Regarding Seranthony Dominguez, he has a 5.23 ERA with three holds but also has nine of 12 acceptable outings. At 75 percent, he is dependable, and eight of those nine performances were good.

Hector Neris has a 2.92 ERA, four saves, and two holds with 10 good performances out of 12 for 83.3 percent. Specific games aside, does management know something you don’t? Yes! When he has good stuff, the batter can’t identify the pitch because of its rare late movement.

In its path, I viewed rookie Willie “Stretch” McCovey’s foul line drive to the first row at first base, and the focused-on ball appeared to be in a tunnel. Similarity: Frandsen during a March radio broadcast explained Neris’ deception: His split-finger fastball drops below the tunnel late. Ergo, the batter incorrectly reads a heater.

With eight good performances and one so-so out of 12, Pat Neshek has an effective rate of 75 percent. He has a 2.45 ERA with one save. However, some poor appearances came in critical spots.

Being the bullpen’s pleasant surprise, Adam Morgan has a 0.00 ERA with six holds, plus he’s had 14 good performances: 100 percent. And this isn’t his first string of outstanding pitching, he established himself in 2017’s second half with a dominant August and September.