Which Phils' skills are most coveted on team?
Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” got a ton of hype over the past several weeks. (I watched it. It’s good. It’s better than the original, but it’s still no Avengers.) The superhero talk got me wondering about any superpowers Phillies players might love to add to their game. It could be anything, but the caveat was that it had to be a talent, skill or pitch belonging to one of their teammates.
Here is what they told me this month while I was in Clearwater, Fla.
Andrew McCutchen
“[Bryce] Harper’s arm, for sure. To watch him just throw a ball, it seems like he’s going to throw it out of the stadium, and somehow it’s the most accurate and hard throw that I’ve ever seen. It’s pretty impressive. Like, he hasn’t made too many -- at least from my perspective -- bad throws when he’s actually trying to throw someone out. He’s been flat-footed and just let some stuff eat and I’m like, ‘Oh, no.’ And I'm kind of like doing this [squints] as he’s throwing it. And it’s on the money almost every time. So, it’s not only the arm that’s good. It’s the accuracy behind it, too. Because, you know, he throws like he swings. It’s just hard. So, yeah, that’d be neat. Just to be able to throw a ball 100 miles an hour from the outfield. That’d be pretty cool.
"I remember, I threw somebody out a couple years ago from left. Mark Reynolds. He isn’t the fastest runner. But I threw him out. And I was like, ‘Man, that was a good throw.’ And I felt good about it. And I came in, I was like, ‘Hey, what’d Statcast say? How hard did I throw that?’ They’re like, ‘89.’ I was like, ‘89?! That’s it?!’ They’re like, ‘Yeah.’ ‘No, that’s off, that’s not right.’ OK, you know what? I’ll remember to never ask again.”
Spencer Howard
“[José] Alvarado’s two-seamer and/or velocity. It’s like 12 1/2 inches of horizontal movement and I don’t know if I have anything that does that. No, I definitely don’t have anything that does that. That would be a nice weapon to add to the repertoire.”
Rhys Hoskins
“I’ll take [Roman] Quinn’s speed. Speed never slumps. That’s what they say. It’s fun to watch.”
Zack Wheeler
“My curveball is decent, but I like [Aaron] Nola’s, just how consistent it is. A consistent curveball? There’s nothing better. Especially a slower one like he’s kind of got. He can just pop it in there, or he can back-door lefties. He’s got really good command of it. I kind of just throw it and hope for the best, but he can throw it down, up, side to side. That’s probably the pitch I’d take. Or maybe somebody’s changeup. Mine stinks.”
Andrew Knapp
“Probably Roman Quinn's speed. It has to be. That's a no-brainer. I mean, I feel like I'd get a lot of infield hits.”
Brandon Kintzler
“I’d take [Sam] Coonrod’s slider. I don’t need anybody else’s changeup or sinker. If I had his slider … it’s as fast as my fastball, though. It comes out hard, late and small. It’s not a huge slider. You want it small. A small and late slider.”
J.T. Realmuto
“Bryce’s eye. He’s got a great eye at the plate. When he’s going right, he’s already such a good hitter, but I think part of the thing that makes him such a good hitter is he doesn’t chase a lot. Like, I’m a guy who, when I get in the box, I think I can hit everything. Like, if the guy throws it anywhere around the plate, I feel like I can hit it and, like, it’s not true. It gets me in trouble a lot. But he’s got a very specific zone that he swings in and he doesn’t really expand. Obviously, everybody expands some, but he expands way less than most of us.”
Héctor Neris
“I’d take Nola’s sinker. He’s a ground-ball pitcher. He pitches to contact. He gets a lot of ground balls. Sometimes, especially in my situation, I know I need a lot of swings and misses, but when you’re in a situation and the game is on the line and there’s a man on first and second with no outs, sometimes you want a strikeout, but sometimes you want to throw one pitch and get a double play. And then maybe you get a fly ball on the next pitch and you save pitches for the next day. You don’t have to strike out the three guys. It’s a good pitch to have in that situation.”
Bryce Harper
“Roman Quinn’s speed. One hundred percent. Just to feel what that feels like. It’s on a different level. It’s special the way he floats. It’s pretty cool.”
Didi Gregorius and Jean Segura
(The friends and double-play partners answered the question together one morning at BayCare Ballpark.)
Gregorius: “I wouldn’t take one. I wouldn’t. Everybody has to be unique. I don’t want to take somebody’s ability.”
Segura: “You’re not taking it.”
Gregorius: “I know.”
Segura: “Come on, you’re going to be different than everybody else?”
Gregorius: “Yes, I’m always different.”
Segura: “Everybody’s answered this question, but you won’t answer it.”
Gregorius: “I answered it in my way.”
Segura: “You answered it in your way. That’s Didi. That’s Didi Gregorius.”
Gregorius: “That’s me.”
Segura: “I’d take Quinn’s speed. Because I can put the ball in play, I can hit for power, I don’t strike out much. If I had Quinn’s speed, I’d beat out everything.”