The Phillies have 65 games left in a 2017 season that has gone south in terms of record and more importantly hasn't shown enough signs that its rebuild is moving at a good pace for the team to be competitive in the next few years.

Vincent Velasquez will have about 13 more starts this season and what he does with them will be one of the questions the Phillies hope to have answered once this season grinds to a halt in October.

The 25-year-old was one of the key pitchers the Phillies received for closer Kenny Giles before the 2016 season. In his second start as a Phillie and ninth as a professional, the right-hander struck out 16 Padres in a three-hit shutout.

An ace was born or so it seemed, but Velasquez hasn't found that level of dominance again.

In 34 starts since, he hasn't pitched into the eighth inning. Velasquez finished last season with an 8-6 record and 4.12 ERA.

This year he is 2-6 with a 5.49 and spent six weeks on the disabled list with a flexor injury. He made his second start since coming off the DL Monday against his former team.

Overall he is 11-13 with a 4.51 ERA in three seasons.

A nearly two-hour rain delay knocked Velasquez out of the game the Astros went on to win 13-4 in the fourth inning, but the results before then weren't positive as he was charged with four earned runs. Asked to assess Velasquez's outing, manager Pete Mackanin was terse.

"He gave up two home runs, six hits in three innings," said Mackanin.

Velasquez said he relied too much on his fastball and needed to utilize his secondary pitches more. He said he wasn't overly hyped up to face his former teammates.

What do the Phillies need to see out of Velasquez the rest of this season.? Mackanin said it's the same for all the young pitchers in the rotation - Jerad Eickhoff and Nick Pivetta are also auditioning for 2018, while Aaron Nola has already made a strong case he is a top-of-the-rotation starter.

"Well-located pitches, location is a pitcher's best pitch," said Mackanin. "Down in the zone, work fast, throw strikes, pitch down, change speeds. That's what we're looking for."

Can Velasquez give them that consistently? Can he manage his pitch count, enabling him to go deep into the games? Can he be the dominant pitcher the Phillies saw on that afternoon against the Padres last April?

Or is he a pitcher who might thrive better in a relief role? Or would the Phillies be better off moving him as they reconfigure the roster on the worst team in baseball?

Velasquez has made just 43 major-league starts - 36 in a Phillies uniform. Another 13 might not tell the whole story, but it will give the Phillies about 35 percent more starts than they've seen already.

"It's going to be huge," Velasquez said of the rest of the season. "It's my second start coming back off the injury and there's a lot of room for improvement ahead of me.

"I'll take this into consideration and keep working on my repertoire. Secondary pitches are going to come into play huge the rest of the season. I'm going to take it little by little and keep attacking it."

Bill Evans can be reached at bevans@njadvancemedia.com or by leaving a note in the comments below. Follow him on Twitter @BEvansSports.