When the regular season comes, he could be the fourth starter. If he is, Hamels believes he will be more prepared than he ever has been. No longer is Hamels attempting to learn a new pitch during the spring. Instead, he is throwing all four with regularity.
"If I can throw all four right now and work it all the way through spring, I should have them perfected by the season," Hamels, 27, said. "That's something I don't think I've done as much in past seasons. It was just trying to establish a fastball and change-up, and then the other pitches kind of came. I think I was a little too late sometimes in the first part of the season."
In two innings of the Phillies' 5-4 victory over the Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field, Hamels allowed an unearned run on a hit and a walk while throwing 33 pitches (18 strikes). He struck out two batters - Nick Swisher on a cutter in the first and Curtis Granderson on a change-up in the second.
Last spring, Dubee and Hamels were undecided as to whether the cutter or curveball was a better third pitch for Hamels to incorporate. The cutter was the newer pitch, and Hamels toyed with it in Grapefruit League games.
According to pitch data from Baseball Info Solutions, 14.7 percent of Hamels' pitches in 2010 were cutters and 8.2 percent were curveballs.
This spring, he is experimenting only with different situations to find the best use of the pitches. He's comfortable with both of them.
"I feel really good about them," Hamels said. "I'm confident to throw them at any time. You go from there. When you get a hitter in there, you get a little extra adrenaline. You have to build up your endurance. If you don't have the right endurance, you can't make the pitches work as much."
