Roy Halladay, who once reigned as the premier pitcher in all of baseball endured a weak 2012 season, followed by a disastrous start to 2013 that has been cut short due to a rotator cuff injury.
Halladay has been out since May with a partially torn rotator cuff, and when he hit the disabled list his numbers were unsightly. He was 2-4 with an 8.65 ERA and 1.456 WHIP in 34.1 innings of work. His velocity was way down and he looked nothing like the dominant two-time Cy Young winner of old. On Thursday he hurled six innings in a minor league appearance.
While velocity readings weren't available for his first rehab start, Halladay is not pretending as if his velocity is going to magically return. Always a master of mixing up his wide array of pitches, Doc is now going to learn to lean on his sinker and cutter, neither of which requires top shelf heat.
"Really, the goal was to throw as many sinkers and cutters as possible," Halladay said. "The curveball and changeup just kind of come. So we did. We probably threw well over 80-85 percent cutters and sinkers today, and I thought for the most part the location was pretty good. There were times where I'd get in a groove then I'd miss two or three, but really, for the most part, they were on the halves of the plate that I wanted."
It is unclear if Halladay will return to the Phillies this season with the team out of contention, but neither Halladay nor general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. were ruling anything out.
"I spoke with Roy today, and with people who were there to evaluate him, and they feel that he continues to make progress," Amaro said. "He is not as crisp as he wants to be yet. It is likely that he will have at least one more rehab start. He is scheduled to throw a bullpen in Philadelphia on Saturday and we'll know where he will pitch on Tuesday once he completes that session."
Doc sounded as if he's in no rush. "I don't want to try to add on until I'm repeating every time. That's important for me. I'm still breaking those habits, and I feel like I'm doing a good job of it. I want to make sure I do it the right way."
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