A 3.75 ERA over 20 starts may not turn a lot of heads, but David Buchanan did pretty much everything that was asked of him in 2014, doing an admirable job filling in for an irreplacable guy like Cliff Lee. On a team of aging veterans, many considered Buchanan's performance to be a bright spot and he hopes to earn a permanent job in the rotation heading into next season. CSNPhilly interviewed Buchanan on Daily News Live earlier this week.
"I felt okay. I definitely thought there were things I accomplished that I wanted to do, but there's definitely plenty of things I can improve on and I look forward to doing that next year. I just started playing catch, so I'm looking forward to spring training getting ready for the season. Hopefully I can earn a spot."
In the interview, Sam Donnellon touched on the fact that when Buchanan was drafted, he was throwing 94-95mph on his fastball, but now has settled into more of a 90-93 range. He went on to ask whether Buchanan plans to get back to where he was in terms of velocity. The 25-year-old right-hander said he hopes to add some speed to his fastball, but knows that control is what really matters after seeing Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee in action.
"I would definitely like to get my velocity up a little bit. That's what I'm going to start working on now that I'm throwing, I'm gonna long toss a lot more and try to build up the arm strength, but the control thing for me was, when I first signed, when I was throwing hard, I learned real quickly that no matter how hard you throw, guys can hit a fastball…and it really depends on where you put the fastball that matters and I learned that really quickly once I saw the minor leagues and the higher I moved up there, it just kind of exaggerated that fact. So, that's what I'm working on now…putting the ball where I want it because the greats, the guys I've played side to side with…Cole and Cliff and those, that's all they do is put the ball where they want it all the time and that's why they have so much success."
In his 20 starts this season, Buchanan only lasted seven innings twice, but as very effective in the majority of the outings, holding opposing teams to three runs or less in 18 of the 20. One of his best games came against the Cardinals back on June 19th. Buchanan held St. Louis to just one run on four hits over 7.2 innings while striking out four. Although the Phillies won just one of his last nine starts, the run support provided by last year's offense was less than ideal.
Next year's team will look very different, especially with the absence of long-time shortstop, Jimmy Rollins. Even though Buchanan had only been a member of the big league club this season, he acknowledged that the loss of Rollins isn't something that you ever want to see.
"Seeing a guy like that go is nothing you ever want to see because he was one of the guys who showed me around, showed me the ropes and he is very good to the young guys, being such a good teammate, and playing to win and showing guys how to do it the right way. So, you never want to see a guy like that leave, but that's the nature of the business unfortunately."
As of right now, it seems like the Phillies will enter 2015 with Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, Jerome Williams and Buchanan as starters. With a fifth spot yet to be determined, they have been hinting towards Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez getting a chance to start as well.
Brandon Apter, Publishing Editor for Philliedelphia.com
