Phillies Notebook: Aumont shipped back to Triple A to work on improving mechanics

TWO WEEKS AGO, Phillippe Aumont was back in a major league bullpen following his first minor league demotion.

He knew he had struggled and was honest with himself.

"Everything was just mental," Aumont said upon returning to the Phillies in San Diego.

But perhaps his problems are physical, too. After a brief stay in the Phils' bullpen, Aumont was optioned back to Triple A Lehigh Valley yesterday.

Afterward, Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee offered a blunt assessment of Aumont's ongoing development and suggested the pitcher needs to begin listening to those who want Aumont to alter his mechanics to tap into his talent.

"He's hard to give a lot of stuff to, because what he's doing, he feels comfortable doing," Dubee said of getting Aumont to change his mechanics. "Personally, I think he needs more length in his stride. For a big guy, he should be getting out on top of hitters. But you try to do that and there is not that comfort zone, that trust zone. Those are things hopefully they'll chip away at and get him some length, get him on top of hitters more often, throwing from 60 feet at 6-foot-7."

In Dubee's ideal world, Aumont would take advantage of his lengthy frame and have his fastball bear down on hitters quicker, a la Randy Johnson.

"His stride is short for a big guy," Dubee said.

Coming out of spring training, the Phils hoped Aumont was ready to fulfill on the potential that made him the 11th overall pick in the 2007 draft and the biggest piece in the package that came from Seattle in the December 2009 Cliff Lee trade.

Aumont showed promise upon his first call to the big leagues late last summer, when he allowed one run in his first nine games and held opponents to a .138 batting average. Aumont didn't allow a run in 14 of his 18 appearances last year and held hitters to a .189 batting average and .544 OPS.

Aumont earned his first minor league demotion, however, after sporting a 4.15 ERA in the first 8 weeks of this season in the Phillies 'pen. He struck out 15, but also walked 10 in 13 innings.

Aumont questioned the communication between minor and major league coaches upon his demotion, saying he was being asked to do different things at different levels. But he took back his words 2 weeks ago when he rejoined the team, saying there weren't any mixed messages.

Aumont, 24, pitched in six games since being recalled from the IronPigs and had as many walks and hit batsmen combine (four) as he had strikeouts. Since he remains a work in progress, the Phils would prefer he does that work in the minor leagues while they try to win games in the major leagues.

"Consistency is a big factor, and sometimes it's hard to use him in some situations," Dubee said. "He needs more reps. He needs to go down there and pitch. He hasn't been getting any ground-ball outs, which is disturbing. I think he's got one ground-ball out this month . . . He should be a sinkerball, ground-ball machine. His fastball has been flat. So, give him some more reps."

Replacing Aumont on the roster was a pitcher who was a member of the Independent League's Newark Bears last season and was out of organized baseball in 2011. His name is Luis Garcia.

Garcia, 26, joined the Phils before last night's game against Washington.

Garcia, who had an 11.57 ERA in nine games with Newark last season, was 2-2 with a 1.67 ERA in 31 games this year between Class A Clearwater, Double A Reading and Triple A Lehigh Valley. He struck out 39 batters while walking 12 in 37 2/3 innings.

As the Phils attempt to make a run up the National League standings this month with the trade deadline only 3 weeks away, it's worth pointing out their bullpen now includes both Garcia and J.C. Ramirez, pitchers who weren't anywhere in their plans not that long ago.

While it's usually the time of the year when Charlie Manuel makes trade deadline requests, the manager was mum on whether he thinks he needs more veteran relief help.

"I'd like to see us improve our team any way we possibly can - really," Manuel said. "That's what I like. I try to stay as focused as much as I can on coming to the ballpark and winning. Right now, I do understand we need some wins. I see we've got 72 more games to play. I know exactly where we're at. Let's see if we can get into a better position. Let's see if we can win some of these games and get into a better position when we come back and start the second half."

Although Darin Ruf's long-term future in Philadelphia would still seem to be in the outfield, as Ryan Howard has 3 years remaining on his contract, Charlie Manuel said he had no concrete plans to work Ruf into the outfield during his stay with the Phillies. "We're talking about a different league, different reasons, different everything," Manuel said. "You're trying to establish yourself as a big-league player. Definitely we're trying to help him, putting him in the best position to have success" . . . Beginning tonight, against Washington's Gio Gonzalez, the Phils will face lefthanded starters in four of their next five games. Phillies hitters entered last night with a .719 OPS collectively against lefthanded pitchers, fourth best in the National League . . . Manuel entered last night nine wins shy of 1,000 career wins as a major league manager. Only 58 managers have won 1,000 or more games in major league history, including seven active managers: Cleveland's Terry Francona, San Francisco's Bruce Bochy, Cincinnati's Dusty Baker, Washington's Davey Johnson, Detroit's Jim Leyland, Los Angeles Angels' Mike Scioscia and Baltimore's Buck Showalter.

Blog: ph.ly/HighCheese