A change-up: IronPigs' Walrond switches role to relief pitcher

Veteran hurler adjusting to bullpen, gives up go-ahead runs in loss to Sox.

By Jeff Schuler | Of The Morning Call

August 26, 2008

For about two months this summer Les Walrond was as effective a starter as there was in the International League, even if he didn't have the wins.

Now, after a three-week stopover in the Phillies bullpen, the 31-year-old left-hander is back in an IronPigs uniform -- but this time in a new role.

Walrond realizes that if he is to have a future in the major leagues it's likely as a long reliever, not as a starter. So he will spend the final week of the IronPigs' season and his upcoming winter ball season in Venezuela getting experience working out of the bullpen.

''I think I can have a career in the bullpen,'' Walrond said Monday night after he gave up the go-ahead runs in a 4-2 loss to Pawtucket before 8,366 at Coca-Cola Park. ''It's just something I have to get used to, [but] I learned how to be a starter [so] I think I can learn how to do this, also.''

So far the transition hasn't been an easy one for Walrond, who was leading the International League with a 2.62 ERA when he was promoted on August 2. He was 0-1 with a 7.11 ERA in four games with the Phillies, allowing eight hits and eight walks (although four were intentional), and has struggled both times he's come out of the IronPigs' bullpen since his return.

In his first outing Friday at Scranton he gave up two hits, including a two-run homer by Shelley Duncan, in 12/3 innings. Pawtucket loaded the bases against him in both of his innings Monday night, but while Walrond got a 1-2-3 double play to escape the first unscathed, he surrendered a two-out, two-run single to Jeff Corsaletti that snapped a 2-2 tie in the seventh.

''It's about having a breaking ball and two pitches you want to use for sure, maybe three, and being able to put them where you want to put them in a short period of time, where as a starter you get time to work into those pitches,'' Walrond said.

''It's not a tough adjustment,'' Walrond insisted. ''It's just a matter of getting used to it and doing it a couple of times and making your pitches.''

Gorman Heimueller, the Phillies minor league pitching coordinator, said the key to starting or relieving is the same.

''Once you're on the mound you've just got to execute your pitches, and from what I've seen here and from the reports I've gotten, there's no doubt in my mind [Walrond is] capable of doing that,' he said.

''He can throw his curve ball [and] slider for strikes, and he has command of his fastball,'' Heimueller added.

Walrond, a starter for most of the last three years in the minors, came to the Phillies organization after making seven ineffective relief appearances for the Iowa Cubs. He made 17 starts for the IronPigs before being called up.

''I just wanted a chance to get my innings in, and I'm grateful to the Phillies for the opportunity,'' Walrond said.

The IronPigs took a 2-0 lead in the second on T.J. Bohn's two-run single, but that was the extent of their offense against Eric Hull, making his first start in three years, and three relievers.

With Bartolo Colon, Pawtucket's starter tonight, on a 60-pitch count, PawSox manager Ron Johnson was ready and willing to let one of his relievers absorb a pounding if necessary. Instead, the quartet limited the IronPigs to just eight hits -- only three of them after the second inning.

''I thought he had a pretty good change-up and a pretty good breaking ball,'' IronPigs manager Dave Huppert said of Hull, who allowed five hits and struck out seven in five innings..

Josh Wilson's two-run single in the fourth tied the game at 2-2.

jeff.schuler@mcall.com

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