Corey Knebel is no longer the Phillies' closer, at least for the time being.
Until Knebel returns to form, Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson indicated Wednesday morning at Citizens Bank Park that he will adopt a closer-by-committee strategy. Both Seranthony Domnguez and Brad Hand will likely pitch in the ninth inning. Knebel is 2-5 with a 3.24 ERA, and 11 saves this season, but in an 11-9 defeat to the Marlins on Tuesday night, he blew his fourth save.
Thomson removed Knebel with the bases loaded and no outs after throwing only four strikes out of 16 pitches.
Knebel remarked, "I don't think there's anything to talk about." The choice has been made. That is all there is to it. I'm going to perform my work now.
Knebel has thrown only 45.2 percent of his pitches in the strike zone this season, his lowest rate since Statcast began tracking him in 2015. Among the 74 relievers who have thrown at least 400 pitches, this is the 12th lowest rate.
With the Dodgers last season, Knebel threw 54.6 per cent of his pitches in the strike zone.
It's a 9.4-percentage-point decrease. Knebel did not throw enough last season to qualify, but White Sox right-hander José Ruiz has the most reduction in zone rate among qualified pitchers this season, at 7.8%.
Knebel's problems do not appear to be related to his health, albeit he could not pitch on Sunday due to tightness in his right shoulder. On Tuesday, Knebel's fastball averaged 96.8 mph, 1.3 mph faster than his season average.
The increase in speed suggests that he is in good health.
Regarding his conversation with Knebel, Thomson stated, "First and foremost, I wanted to make sure he was healthy." He stated he was after looking me in the eyes. I just talked to him about the problem and advised that, for the time being, we put him in places where he can breathe a little bit. Because he knows he's not throwing the ball where he wants it. He professionally handled everything. He's looking for the ball. He's an opponent. He's looking for that ninth inning. I'd like him to pitch in the ninth inning as well. And perhaps, after a couple of these appearances, we'll be able to reclaim him.
So, what does Thomson require before reassigning Knebel to the ninth?
"He's throwing strikes, and he's throwing the ball where he wants to," Thomson explained. "He's making contact with the breaking ball." And he'll do it."
Knebel's curveball has previously been a big weapon. Batters aren't swinging at the pitch since he isn't throwing it for strikes. They swung at 46.1 percent of his curveballs with the Dodgers.
They are swinging at it just 31.1 percent of the time this season.
"Whatever it is, whether it's mechanics or whatever, we'll have our guy back once he finds it and gets the ball back in the zone," Thomson said.
Closers have benefited from moves like these in the past. With former Phillies closer Héctor Neris, it worked every season.
"Take a look at Mariano Rivera," said Thomson. "I believe he blew 80 saves, but you can check it up." However, due to his success, no one ever mentions it. He had periods when he wasn't Mariano Rivera."
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