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One of the biggest worries with this 2010 Phillies team in the off season was easily Cole Hamels. We have been waiting and hoping all year long that Cole would resemble his former self. But it just hasn't happened.
Every time Cole would pitch a great game he would follow it up with a bad one. Until Hamels strings together a bunch of good starts, nobody will really have any faith in him.
Until now. In his four starts in May, Hamels is 3-0 and has an ERA of 2.36. Not only that, but he has averaged 6 2/3 innings per start.
It seems like he finally has a grasp on his cutter and curveball. He doesn't use either of them too much, but he is starting to have command of each. Now that he has confidence in those pitches, he seems to be focusing more on his fastball. Ask just about any baseball guy and they will tell you that in order for a pitcher to be successful, they need to establish their fastball.
It seems pretty clear that Cole was still learning his two "other" pitches all season long at the expense of his changeup and fastball. It looks like maybe, just maybe, Cole has finally figured it out. If that happens, look out!
Now that Cole has dropped his ERA beneath 4.00 for the first time this year, I thought it might be a good time to look at Cole's ERA in a little more detail.
The chart below tracks Cole's ERA in every month he's been in the bigs prior to May. What it says to me is that it is clear Hamels has not just "lost" his stuff. But there is a clear slight up tick to his ERA. It is that slight rise that caused Cole to get a couple new pitches. Hopefully at the end of the year this graph will have a much different look to it.
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