Phillies general manager Pat Gillick watches Cole Hamels pitch and is reminded, he said Wednesday night, of another left-hander: Jimmy Key. Hamels, summoned to the big leagues to make his major league debut for the Phillies on Friday, has Key's composure and his mound demeanor. "But this kid throws harder," said Gillick, who ran the Blue Jays when Key broke in with Toronto.
Hamels forced his way to the big leagues with his extraordinary performance in the minors. Think about this: He had one walk and 36 strikeouts in 23 innings in Triple-A. Gillick says Hamels can pitch forward and backward in baseball parlance -- he can throw off-speed stuff in which hitters expect fastballs, and vice versa, and is not predictable. On the scout's scale of 1 to 8, Gillick rates Hamel's changeup a 7.
The other reason promoting Hamels now makes so much sense is that the ripple greatly strengthens the team's middle relief, with Ryan Madson going back into his old role; this is like the Mets smartly keeping Aaron Heilman in the set-up spot.
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Buster Olney
