Scott Aldred On: Phil Coke

This is the fourth of five posts where Trenton Thunder pitching coach Scott Aldred breaks down the starting rotation, pitcher-by-pitcher. 

Scott isn’t the easiest guy to track down, but he took a break from looking at video of his pitchers just to give me a few minutes.  So this won’t be as in-depth as I think some of you might want, but hopefully this provides some answers to any specific questions you may have.

The last three days have seen Aldred talk about Chase Wright, Dan McCutchen and Jason Jones.

Today, it’s Phil Coke’s turn.

TT: Let’s talk about Phil Coke.  What’s going on with him so far?

SA: “Coke, work with his breaking ball.  He’s kind of like Chase Wright a little bit.  Changeup’s there, his fastball command, even though you haven’t seen it yet, is pretty good.  It just hasn’t shown up yet.  But we’re just working on spin and break with his breaking ball.  Making it quality so he’s able to handle left handed hitters at a higher level.”

TT: I wrote a couple days ago that I’d heard there was some concern about Coke’s ability to effectively change speeds.  Your thoughts?

SA: “Phil knows how to change speeds.  Phil knows how to pitch a little bit, though again, we haven’t seen it.  Not like he can be.  He can be very good with his command and his ability to change speeds.”

TT: Was his first start, the exhibition game start, as good as you’ve seen him so far?

SA: “Yeah, he was pretty good.  He had a couple starts in spring training where he was pretty good too.  I’ve seen him two years ago in Charleston better than what he’s showing now.”

Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com