3 changes the Phillies need to make after disastrous 27 earned run start

Phillies have to stop letting pitch clock get to them

Philadelphia has imploded in two consecutive games, and at least one of those can be directly attributed to the introduction of the pitch clock. J.T. Realmuto admitted to The Athletic (subscription required) that the pitch clock made him feel rushed in the opening game. That feeling only gets worse once the bases become occupied and the runs start loading up.

There are practical ways to counter this.

For one, pitchers can use as much of the pitch clock as possible. Andrew Vasquez has one of the fastest tempos in the MLB so far in his appearance according to Statcast. With runners on base, Gregory Soto is faster than most, too.

Though the new rules can feel restrictive, the Phillies need to use their allotment of mound visits to help calm pitchers down as well. Philly used no mound visits in its first game of the season, and only four in the second game. You get five mound visits in the first eight innings of the game, and a sixth in the ninth if you’ve used five already.

Mound visits are not only a time to give some needed motivation to your pitcher, but also a way to artificially slow the game down and keep the tempo from rattling pitchers and getting away from them. Not using the allotted visits is just a bad strategy.