Ben Lively Making An Impact At Triple-A Lehigh Valley

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Phillies have put together what seems to be an endless supply of young, talented starting pitching.

Right now the rotation features four pitchers under the age of 27 in Zach Eflin (22), Jerad Eickhoff (26), Aaron Nola (23) and Vince Velasquez (24). 22-year-old Jake Thompson is knocking on the door at Triple-A Lehigh Valley and right next to him in the Iron Pig rotation is 24-year-old Ben Lively.

Acquired in December of 2014 from the Reds in the deal that sent outfielder Marlon Byrd to the Reds, Lively started this season at Double-A Reading. But after going 7-0 with a 1.87 ERA in nine starts, he was promoted to Lehigh Valley. The right-hander has made eight starts for the Iron Pigs, going 3-2 with a 3.86 ERA. In 104 1/3 combined innings this season, Lively has allowed just 70 hits and 29 walks while striking out 80 hitters. Opponents are hitting .187 against him. He talks about his overall success here in 2016.

"Just quality pitches early in the game," Lively tells KYW Newsradio. "That sets everybody up and the hitters know I'm going to throw a bunch of strikes and once I'm making quality (pitches) early in their at bat, it just helps me throughout he game. It's been helping me a lot this whole year."

Listen to the entire interview with Lehigh Valley's Ben Lively:

Lively throws four pitches - fastball, slider, curve ball and change-up - and he says his fastball is his best pitch. He will be on the Friday night for the Iron Pigs up in Buffalo and he will be looking to bounce back from really his first down stretch of the season. Lively has lost his last two starts, allowing 12 runs in 11 innings of work.

"I'm throwing bad sequences for the wrong hitter and they're just hitting it," Lively says. "Just kind of spirals out of control before I get a chance to fix it."

Lively says working through rough patches like this, though, will help make him better in the long run.

"Kind of kick you into another gear and get your mindset back on pace," Lively says. "You know what you need to do to succeed."

Lively is one of several prospects in the organization knocking on the door of the Major Leagues. So does he spend a lot of time thinking about what it will be like when that phone rings?

"Of course it's in the back of my mind," Lively says. "Always ready for that opportunity. But I've just got to focus on here and now and keep putting up zeroes and try to do well here."