By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Saturday morning, with five days remaining until Opening Day, the Philadelphia Phillies opted to send down right-hander Jerad Eickhoff to Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
This spring, the four-year veteran yielded four runs on seven hits, three home runs and four walks, while striking out 12 batters over three appearances (two starts) and nine innings. The right-hander pitched four innings and allowed just one run Friday evening against the New Yankees; he began camp behind schedule after undergoing carpal tunnel surgery. Eickhoff, 28, has made just three appearances since late August 2017 due to various injuries.
Jerad Eickhoff believes the carpel tunnel sydrome nerve issue is finally behind him
“Knowing in the end, it’s going to make me better, it’s going to make me stronger… I’m going to use this as fuel and fire going forward”#Phillies ⚾️☀️🌴 pic.twitter.com/RAwW9Qa3kC
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) February 17, 2019
Philly.com's Scott Lauber notes that Phillies Manager Gabe Kapler was "impressed" with the return of Eickhoff's curveball to "pre-injury form." The right-hander also noted he leaned heavily on said curveball in 2016, the season in which he tossed a career-high 33 starts and 197 1/3 innings.
MLB.com's Todd Zolecki writes:
He said he noticed when he was pitching well in 2016 that former Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz had him pitching backwards, meaning instead of establishing the fastball early, he threw more breaking balls. With Eickhoff’s fastball in the 88-90 mph range, it makes sense.
He had a 3.13 ERA in 77 2/3 innings with Ruiz behind the plate.
Eickhoff will begin the season in the minors, mostly due to the Phillies having little to no available innings for him in the majors, both in the starting rotation and bullpen.
