Evan Meek's 1-2-3 Inning

One of the guys I was most interested in seeing early on in this season was Evan Meek. The 2010 all-star had shoulder surgery last year and lost some velocity after the surgery. He didn't look great all spring despite being pretty good at getting outs and keeping his numbers looking okay. Sunday was the first chance we had to see Meek, and he set the Phillies down in order. That's the good news, and you can never complain about results, however there were some things that I didn't like in the outing. Let's break it down.

The first batter Meek faced was Hunter Pence. He threw a fastball and a slider to get ahead 0-2, missed with a 93 mile per hour fastball and then got him swinging with a 79 mile per hour slider off the plate. I was more than happy with that. The slider has great movement and he set up the at-bat very, very well.

Then Placido Polanco came up. Meek started him off with a slider up and in for ball one, went with a 91 mile per hour fastball that was fouled off, reached 93 on a fastball that went for ball two, had a 90 mile per hour heater get fouled back, threw a slider that was fouled off, threw ball three on a fastball outside, had two more fastballs wasted by Polanco, and then saw a 90 mile per hour lined into left field, fortunately right at Alex Presley. That concerned me a bit. You saw Meek trying to get the strikeout of Polanco multiple times but just couldn't get the fastball past him. It's a lot easier to get a 96 mile an hour heater past a guy than a 90-91 mile an hour pitch. Meek doesn't have that velocity anymore and it enabled Polanco to battle long enough and waste enough pitches to finally get one to drive. He made great contact but drilled it to the wrong spot, and Meek was fortunate enough to get an out.

The next batter was Ty Wigginton who took a 2-1 pitch and flew out to marginal left center field. It was nothing but a routine foul ball, but it was one of those pitches that seemed like the batter just missed. The location was poor, it right over the heart of the plate, and if Wigginton could have it back he very well may have done something with it.

I'm not trying to sound negative about Meek retiring the first three batters of his season in order, but he's not the same pitcher as he used to be, and I don't think he's going to be that guy again.

Going from mid to high 90's on the fastball to low 90's is a big difference, and his strikeouts are going to fall because of it, which isn't a great sign for a back of the bullpen arm. The good news is that he has good control and a great slider, those two things should allow him to be a successful major league pitcher this year, but he isn't going to be a guy I'm confident with in big situations.