It’s mid-February, which means baseball things are happening — no, not the baseball things we’ve been waiting months for.
RELATED: Phillies, Giants finalists for Bryce Harper, who isn't considering short-term deals
Pitchers and catchers reported to Clearwater on Wednesday, where reporters were told about some offseason surgery for Jake Arrieta:
On Thursday, the assembled media talked with some pitchers, Aaron Nola discussed his new contract, and Jake Arrieta discussed a nagging injury that might explain why he had a rough second half of the 2018 season:
Interestingly, Phillies second-year manager Gabe Kapler said Thursday he didn’t know about Arrieta’s injury until last month, when the surgery took place:
It’s kind of weird that Arrieta knew he was pitching with an injury and, apparently, Kapler didn’t know. Either that, or they both knew but neither knew the extent of the injury.
In any case, it sounds like Arrieta’s knee troubles began in June:
If we track back to mid-June — remember when the Phillies were 35-31 on June 14? — and look at Arrieta pre- and post-the middle of June, a pretty clear downturn takes place.
Through his first dozen starts, halfway through June, Arrieta had a 2.97 ERA and had nine outings with two or fewer earned runs. By the end of the year, his ERA ballooned to 3.96, including a 4.63 ERA over his final 19 starts, and he only had seven more outings with two or fewer earned runs in those 19 chances.
MORE SPORTS: Is Sixers' current starting five their best line up of all time?
Elsewhere, opponents’ batting average leapt from .239 in the first 12 starts to .264 over the final 19. His strike percentage (65 percent) was actually two points better over those last 19 starts, but the dropoff in other arenas was still precipitous. A torn meniscus sounds about right for that kind of showing from a pitcher like Arrieta.
On the plus side, it sounds like Arrieta expects to be ready for the start of the season. The Phillies open the season March 28 against the Braves.
Follow Adam & PhillyVoice on Twitter: @adamwhermann | @thePhillyVoice
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice
Add Adam's RSS feed to your feed reader
Have a news tip? Let us know.