Philadelphia Phillies: Why Vance Worley Will Have Continued Success

Although the move was misunderstood by some on message boards across the Internet, Vance Worley was able to stay on his rotation by pitching for Lehigh Valley last night. That is why he went down.

Apparently, it was a good thing he did.

Like he has been doing in Philadelphia, Worley threw very well.

Altogether he compiled six shutout innings last night with only three hits allowed and zero walks.

Obviously, he will be back up in Philadelphia as soon as they need him after the All-Star break, but this will not be the first time in recent years that the Phillies have had a young pitcher up.

I am particularly thinking of Kyle Kendrick and J.A. Happ, who both started off very well in Philadelphia.

Kendrick has been moved to the bullpen which has actually been a pretty positive movement, and Happ has been having a difficult year in Houston.

However, I think Worley will be able to stay in Philadelphia as a starter unlike Kendrick and will be more successful than Happ.

The main reason that Worley will be able to stick as a starter in Philadelphia is because he has the right mindset. It is difficult to quantify this talent though, so I chose one that seems to demonstrate coolness under pressure.

When there are men on base, the opposition is only batting .182 against him. If he gets himself into trouble, he has been able to bail himself out.

When there are runners on base for Happ and Kendrick during their best year in Philadelphia (2009 for Happ, and 2007 for Kendrick), opponents were batting .212 and .245 respectively.

Worley has been much more successful in this respect.

I know that one statistic does not entirely define a performance.

However, this mindset of being able to fight out of potentially problematic situation shows maturity in my book, and this type of confidence when combined with his ability will allow him to continue to do well.

I don't think that he is just going to have one good season; he is going to have a solid career in Philadelphia.