Phillies’ Matt Strahm brings a ‘reliever’s mentality’ to his role as a starter

He will lean on what he learned in his short time as a starter. “It’s got to be Matt Strahm from the get-go. You can’t be trying to save anything.”

Matt Strahm signed with the Phillies as a reliever but for now he will be in the starting rotation.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Alex Coffey

Published Apr. 4, 2023, 2:25 p.m. ET

NEW YORK — In the eighth inning of the Phillies’ season opener against the Texas Rangers on Thursday, J.T. Realmuto stuck out his mitt to receive Matt Strahm’s third pitch of the night. The count was 1-1 and Rangers outfielder Bubba Thompson was at the plate. As Strahm released the pitch, Realmuto heard a loud scream.

He quickly realized it was his pitcher. The 31-year-old left-hander’s four-seam fastball landed just outside of the strike zone but was called a strike. Realmuto didn’t understand what the issue was.

“He told me he didn’t put it where he wanted to,” the catcher said. “I’m not going to say what he said, but he made it very clear that he wasn’t happy with himself. I was like, ‘Dude, it was a strike.’”

Realmuto likes to joke about Strahm’s competitive spirit, but he also believes it is an asset. So does Strahm, who joined the Phillies by signing a two-year, $15 million contract in December. He said it is what makes him an effective reliever. He said he pitches “gas pedal to the floor.”

“Once the gas tank is empty, it’s empty, but I’ll go out and push the car if I have to,” Strahm said.

This type of mentality isn’t atypical for relievers. It is more atypical for starters, which is notable, because starting with Tuesday night’s game against the Yankees, Strahm has a spot in the Phillies’ rotation, at least temporarily. This isn’t a new role for him. He was a starter for Kansas City’s double-A team in 2016, and he started 16 games for the San Diego Padres in 2019. But when he takes the mound at Yankee Stadium, it will be Strahm’s first time starting in two years. Last year, all 50 of his appearances for Boston were in relief.

That might be a tough ask for some relievers, but not so much for Strahm, who has five pitches in his repertoire. Nevertheless, this wasn’t a role he was expecting to have in 2023. The Phillies started building Strahm up as a starter around mid-March, when Ranger Suárez returned from the World Baseball Classic with a left elbow strain. He is still weeks from returning to the big-league club. Strahm will fill his spot for the foreseeable future.

He said he plans to bring a “reliever’s mentality” to his starts. Strahm learned a lot about what not to do when he started for the Padres in 2019. He went into games trying to save certain pitches for the later innings. It did not work for him.

In Strahm’s first game of the 2019 season, he faced the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Adam Jones in the first inning. He took Jones to a 0-2 count, and then threw him a 92 mph fastball, which Jones launched into the left field stands.

He finished his day with a 16.88 ERA in 2⅔ innings. He finished his season with a 5.29 ERA in his 16 starts.

“I got hit in the teeth real early, and it was like, ‘Dude you can’t do that,” Strahm said. “’It’s got to be Matt Strahm from the get-go. You can’t be trying to save anything.’ I knew in the first inning I should have been at 94 or 95 mph. The conviction wasn’t there [against Jones].

“I felt like in 2019, when I did start, I almost handcuffed myself earlier in games trying to save my slider or save my cutter for the next time through. I worried about setting up at-bats later in the game. I don’t throw scouting reports out the window, but this game is so hard. … I mean, we watch it in batting practice. Guys get out seven times out of 10 in batting practice. So why am I going to dive into all of this and get it in my head when I know if I compete with what I got, the odds are in my favor. To me, it’s the difference between ‘I’m going to get you here’ versus ‘I’m going to try to put the ball here.’”

Going into Tuesday’s game, Strahm was excited for the opportunity to start again. It’s a different kind of adrenaline rush; the ability to face a hitter two or maybe three times. It’s a challenge, and as a competitor, he loves that. Strahm said he was raised that way.

He grew up in West Fargo, N.D., in a household that relished competition. He didn’t score a basket on his father in the driveway until he was 13. When he was 10, he ended up in the emergency room because of a game of musical chairs gone wrong. Strahm and his mother, Linda, were fighting for the last chair. He accidentally caught his arm in the chair’s spokes, and injured his elbow. The doctors were understandably concerned.

“They kept asking me if I was safe at home, and I was like, ‘Yeah, my mom just beat me at musical chairs,’” Strahm said. “And they looked at me like I had a third eye.”

Strahm said his upbringing is the reason why he feels comfortable in any role — whether it’s starting, closing, or anything in between. He wants to win, and going into Tuesday’s game, the Phillies could use one.

“I might throw all five pitches in the first seven pitches of the game,” he said. “I’m going to empty the gas tank until it’s empty. I’m not going to try to save stuff for the sixth or seventh inning. That’s just never how I’ve pitched. Compete, every pitch. That’s how I’ve rolled for my entire career.”