Lots of fun names to see for the first time at Williamsport and in the GCL. I’d say Yan Olmo is the star if the day for that bunch. Other than that, I’ll only point out that Zach Collier is still on fire. Good for him.
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Raise your hand if you are surprised Larry Greene went 0-fer with multiple strikeouts
One game…give these kids time
The comment has nothing to do with if they will be productive players some day or not, just commenting that I would have bet a lot of money that Larry Greene struggled out of the gate
There’s something wrong with you if you cheer against your own team’s prospects. But good for you man! You can say I told you so without saying I told you so!
And there is something wrong with you if you post under anonymous…
You’re an idiot.
geez, relax. he wasn’t the only one and it was his first professional game
Idiot, you just went 0 for 1 with that comment
Anon on Anon crime!
self-loathing?
took me a little while to figure out if the idiot comment was directed at me
No Forrest, that was against my twin brother who got shafted on the gene split
and your parents gave you the same name? tough one
I’m not suprised, he’s a power bat at first, that’s what those players do, they hit HR’s and they K. I don’t know about you, but I’d prefer the 200 strike outs per year howard takes along with 45 HR’s and 150 RBI rather then him on the DL. The phillies are easily 5 wins better right now with him and would have a record of 36-32, and tied for second in the division. And I agree with most of the other posters, no need to be a douche.
Howard’s WAR last year was 1.6… Don’t forget he has a “glove” too.
I’m sure we could argue this all day, but to me, looking at that number and then comparing the Phillies record this year to last just shows the questionable value of the WAR statistic.
How many games does a team win if every player on the team is a 0 war player, 81??
Closer to 40. Average MLB player is a 2 war player.
If it’s just Howard in a vacuum, sure. But the Phillies are also down Utley and Ibanez. They lost Cliff Lee a few weeks, they lost Roy Halladay for a substantial period of time, they don’t have Roy Oswalt. Shane Victorino lost 100 points off his OPS, John Mayberry lost almost 200 points off of his. And the bullpen’s ERA is a full run worse. And virtually every player replacing those lost is a replacement player or worse.
I think the only thing to take away from yesterday’s WPT boxscore is that the 2011 draft has finally started playing and it is awesome that they all made it to WPT rather than filling the GCL.
It is nice to see that both the GCL and WPT teams are almost entirely prospects without much filler. I really like that these well thought of young players get to play together especially in the OF and the 2B/SS positions. They are going to put up some really ugly lines occasionally but it is good to have them finally playing
Another nice outing by JC Ramirez. 2 strikeouts and only 15 pitches thrown.
I have a feeling we’ll see Bonilla starting very soon. If you look at his game log it looks like they building his endurance with multi inning appearances every 3-4 days. They have a double header on Saturday so I wouldn’t be surprised if he started. Really want to see what he can do in a AA start.
Ramirez may find his niche as the reliever many thought he could be.
Bonilla has very good stuff. I don’t think I’ve ever been blown away by a change-up when I have been at a ball game (usually, it’s hard to pick up on that at the ball park), but, from what I saw at a Reading game, Bonilla’s change-up is a beauty. It appears to be either a plus or a plus plus pitch.
I also saw the Ramirez appearance and was impressed. It is not surprising that his velocity appears to have improved as a result of the move to the bullpen, but his command was pretty good last night too. He also broke off a nice change-up during the game. He is going to need the breaking pitches and the command in order to succeed as the fastball is pretty straight.
He’s tinkered with a split this year which is becoming one of his out pitches. That’s the change you are probably seeing.
Do you mean Ramirez or Bonilla? As for Ramirez, I couldn’t tell if the pitch was a split or a change, but since the Phillies prefer to teach the change and the “drop” was not extreme, I guessed it was a change up.
Sorry, Ramirez is using a split now.
Raise your hand if you thought JC Ramirez would be the guy out of the three Lee prospects that would make it to the majors first. But given the weaknesses of our righthanded relief options, I could definitely see him getting the call next.
Yup, he’s probably next. On the 40-man, too.
No Tocci on Opening Day?
Don’t see him on the roster for some reason
Read on a blog he was in warm-ups at the GCL game. Sounds like not on a roster to me, but who knows.
Anybody know which Greene was charged with the error? I’m going to assume Tyler since it came on a throw.
It seems like 18-year-old catcher Wilson Garcia puts up numbers every day in the VSL.
Tyler on a throw.
It was Tyler.
I’m encouraged by Williamsport after that first game. Good defense up the middle from Quinn and Greene, another shortstop over at third base. Speedy players in the lineup, power potential from Larry Greene. And Brock Stassi and Chris Serratella to provide professional hitting in the middle.
No idea how the pitching will perform though.
That’s probably going to be the team I watch most from here on out. The only problem with having 3 SS’s in your infield is that they don’t uasually have much offensive output. Could you imagine the phillies with 3 Jimmy Rollins or 3 Freddy Galvis, great defense (as you pointed out) but scoring very few runs. (I’m not knocking Jimmy’s previous years or Galvis’s long term potential)
Roman Quinn is more the size of Rollins and Galvis. With Walding and T.Greene you have two kids with good size
Roman Quinn – WOW!!!!! A superstar is born
Based on 1 for 4?
He beat out another gb to 1st but was called out and had strong at bats overall. So 1 for 4 is a little misleading. But, yeah, saying he’s a superstar after one game is premature, But, I suspect the above poster may have been being a bit overzealous on purpose for whatever reason.
The wow was serious, the superstar was an obvious exaggeration.
http://www.sungazette.com/page/blogs.detail/display/976/Roman-Quinn-excites-fans-in-pro-debut.html
A Dylan Cozens sighting already?
That was really fast wasn’t it…. too bad we couldn’t have done this in the past, it really speeds up prospect development, he gets a full year at WPT the same year he was drafted. Great move by MLB on moving up the signing deadline.
It was, but I agree, it is great to see him playing already. I’m with most people that it wasn’t a great pick, but now that he is in the system I hope he straight mashes.
I am 99% sure you know this, but Cozens is at the GCL. But all your points remain, it’s great to have him playing already.
Yep, I think my brain was on a previous post still, but yes gulf coast, not williamsport.
I think Collier’s development is the biggest news in the system of late. Yes, 15 games is a very small sample size but actually playing and producing is big for this system, as a whole. Going into the season Valle was really the only lock as a future pro for the position players, but Hernandez, Asche, and Collier have really put some good seasons together and all 4 will be in high levels shortly. Andddddddddddddddddd Brody Colvin still sucks.
I couldn’t believe that no one else commented on Colvin. It was really the first thing I noticed, followed immediately by the prospect overload of the Williamsport and the GCL teams.
Other than that, I don’t like it when Cesar Hernandez doesn’t play. He and Cody Asche have been the two position players that I quickly look for to see if they’re still playing ridiculously well.
I didn’t watch the game, but I know all Colvin’s runs came in the first. Can anyone tell me if it’s that he gets hit consistently or just has one bad inning per game?
Colvin has the knack for having a bad inning. People have reported that something goes wrong and he seems to get caught in a vortex and gets sucked under. Guys with good stuff should always be able to fight their way out. Colvin has good stuff but he’s got that immature side of him that won’t let him get out of it. He starts by giving up a double and a walk and then he and Rupp catch a guy stealing. Then he BBs the next guy and a 3 run HR puts him in a hole. He then walks a guy gives up a single and double and he’s 5 runs in the hole. In the 2nd through 4th innings he getting the job done. There were 2 more caught stealings that helped him out but that’s what teammates are for. I think his mechanics get out of whack, he gets angry and just loses it. I’d love to see Chooch sit down with him and talk about that. Halladay may be making a visit and he could have a pitching discussion. Rupp’s also got to go to the mound and talk about sacrificing a live chicken to take hexes off of gloves and picking up candlesticks for someone’s wedding. Or at least say, “Dang it’s hot out here. Let’s get some guys out and get our butts back in the dugout.”
I was personally too depressed about it to mention Colvin’s line. It’s one game, we’ll see. Maybe there’s a learning experience they can use to get him to switch it back on. Or maybe back to the pen eventually anyway.
Colvin? Why, did he have a good game?
Collier is insane lately. Time off served him well.
Sorry off topic, but former top prospect Kyle Drabek undergoing Tommy John………again. Sad to see.
This was posted in the general discussion thread, but yeah. Poor kid. Best of luck for him.
Before D’Arnaud becomes an All Star.. Id say the Doc deal has worked out quite well. Sorry for them but I think the Drabek, Cosart, Knapp moves were educated moves factoring in major risks for injuries.
Interesting thing about cosart. http://mobile.crawfishboxes.com/2012/5/23/3038666/jarred-cosart-and-the-age-of-super-prospects
Yeah, he’s always seemed like kind of a knucklehead, though that’s never stopped pitchers from having success in the past. One wonders what a young Brett Myers would have done with Twitter.
Not sure, but it would’ve been fun!
Could you imagine Pat the Bat with twitter? The party pictures with his groupie girls would have been worth a $100 million dollar contract alone!
It appears we kept the right pitchers in that deal. Cosart throws hard, thats about it.
Eh – I don’t see the issue. I think this is more of a Twitter issure than a Cosart issue.
Inverted W in full effect.
Yeah, Congratulations to the scorer of the Williamsport game who simply recorded E-Greene. Seems like official scoring 101 would include: if there is more than one person with the same last name you use an initial or other identifier. Perhaps they can change that by the end of the season.
Seen the Williamsport game on TV. Liked the first reliever they brought in, Geoff Broussard. Looks like good form and lot of movement on pitches. Thought Sisto and Stefan somewhat nondescript. Walding looks like he fields the position. Don’t think he’ll hit like a SS, nor T. Greene or Quinn necessarily either. Not that there is a unique way a SS hits. Yan Olmo may play much by end of season, surprise? Stassi looks even better fielding on TV. Maybe he gets up further.
GCL roster-
Looks like Manaure Martinez has surfaced as the #1 starter from all the Rookie Level pitching candidates in Extended Spring Training.
Willians Astudillo starts off at Catcher. Had him as 3B then 1B. Might be a good move for C.
Carlos Valenzuela starts opening game at 1B, Cozens in LF.
Looks like no Latin Americans in XST released before season, except maybe for Julio Reyes who was replaced by Yoel Mecias.
missing from GCL roster so far:
Delvi Francisco assigned to Clearwater
Carlos Tocci ?
numerous recent signees.
Pedro Nivar – recently signed after KC release
Kevin Walter (DL) ?
Where is Taylor Black?
and guys didn’t expect to see:
Jake Smith and Justin Long
Anyone have news on the signings of the remaining 4 of the top 15 kids in the draft ? Mitch Gueller, Alec Rash , Zach Green and William Carmona ?
Carmona was in the CWS until a couple days ago an ineligible to sign. Gueller seems to have indicated he’s signing, according to reports he’s going to take the slot for his draft spot, and someone said he was in Philly yesterday.
FYI – There’s a post for the draft – that’s the best place to ask draft q’s.
BA does not make many mistakes when it comes to signings and they have him down as signed slot so I would put $$ on it hes all done, maybe just a physical or something. Maybe asked for a few more days at home with family…
Green is in Philly today and should report to Clearwater by Thurs./Fri.
I hear Green is in Philly today to sign. Should report to GCL this week.
My apologies
I wonder when Friend is going to be promoted? I guess not alot of room in bullpen for him at next level or he would have been sent up by now.
heck just double jump him…better than Rosenberg probably…give him a shot
Yeah, but the googles he wears have to be thrown out. I think he’s trying to look like Worley 2.0. Just pitch like Worley, don’t try to look like Worley.
Rosenberg got sent down a few days ago for Kratz. But I agree. The bullpen has been awful and maybe its time for some other guys to get a shot.
I don’t understand the FO’s thinking on Friend at all. I understand somewhat that they might not feel they have room to move him up, with Ramirez, Rosenberg, Aumont all at AAA, but when I guy is that dominant, you kind of have to move him up.
Didn’t somebody report that Tocci was hurt? Maybe it was Slash or Mitch Rupert?
He fractured his testicles but that was ealier in the spring and returned back to XST. That time away may have slowed his progress.
Good lord
Cozens goes deep in game 2.
Thatta boy
2 for 3 for 3 RBI.
I almost wish you’d have waited till tomorrow to post that… it would have been the highlight of tomorrows box scores!
Did anyone know that Pettibone had a plus change-up? I didn’t. According to an article in BA he does:
Pettibone’s plus changeup has made him devastating on lefthanded hitters, whom he’s holding to a .222/.294/.306 line in 108 at-bats this year. He’ll need to keep working on his slider to give him another weapon to use against righthanders, who are hitting .301 off him, to go along with his low 90s fastball. But Pettibone earns high marks for his feel for pitching, and he’s largely had Eastern League hitters’ numbers since his tough start. Though his 93 hits allowed in 87 innings on the year isn’t pretty, he’s held opponents to a .236 average since the start of May
Anyone know the organization’s take on Tyler Cloyd ? Is he a Phuture Phillie or a trade chip ?
Anyone is a trade chip with RAJ
Any word on when Brown will be back in the lineup?
Have the Phillies said anything about how long Brown is out for?
Not until they find out the results of his MRI.
Sorry- the MRI was on Friday. Old news.
The last I saw from an article on mlb.com is that he has some strained ligaments in his knee and they are waiting for the swelling to go down before giving him a time table.
http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120617&content_id=33478574&vkey=news_phi&c_id=phi
Anyone know when Watson, Gueller, and Pullin will join the GCL team?
Looks like Jonathan Singleton is starting to hit more like Ryan Howard. BA down to .279, but 13 doubles and 11 homers. Striking out more than 25% of the time. And of course, he is playing 1B.
11 Hrs isnt Ryan Howard level
Revisionist history! Singleton would project to hit 25-30 HRs at this pace. At Singleton’s current age (20), Howard wasn’t even in the minor leagues yet. In full seasons at ages 22 and 23 he hit 19 and 23 homers in full seasons at Lakewood and Clearwater successively. He had a breakout HR year by the time he hit AA , but by then he was 24. He struck out more than 25% of the time and hit .280 and .304 in those seasons.
Hitting like Ryan Howard isn’t a bad thing. You can say his best years are behind him, but I’ll take a .279 hitter with 40 home runs on my team
.391 OBP isnt Ryan Howard level. I think Howard wouldve posted a sub .300 OBP at Singletons age in the Texas League.
And he can’t hit lefties as well.
Don’t forget Darin Ruf has 16 doubles, 11 homers and is hitting .329.
…and is five years older than Singleton.
+1 on that point… but damn if only Ruf was 18.
Anyway Donald Trump can use his power to get his birth year changed, say to 1990/1, on his certificate!
….. and has never hit less than .290 since the Phillies drafted him in 2009. Is it his fault that the Phillies move players so slowly thru their system even when they are doing well. Ruf is a case in point. Why is he still in AA?
Probably won’t be in AA for much longer.
He’s moved fairly quickly all told. He moved 2 levels in 2009 and2 levels in 2010. He repeated A+ in 2011, only because he was not very good the first time there in 2010, and was promoted again this year, with the possibility of another mid year promotion. That’s reasonable progression.
As for what he is now … the man can hit, no doubt. Will he hit well enough to be a regular at first base? Maybe. Given his age and the extremely high hitting requirements at first base, it is far from a sure thing. And he faces the problem any player who plays only first base faces – if he isn’t a regular, most teams, in these days of short benches, won’t carry a first baseman only player in a bench role. Yeah, yeah, Jim Thome. Who is a future hall of famer. And even so, I question the wisdom of carrying him this year in his limited role.
Which isn’t to say that Ruf is a complete non-prospect. Keep hitting like this, and he may get a chance somewhere at some point, and deservedly so. But he is blocked in Philadelphia – and Howard, whatever one thinks of his current skill level and contract, is not going anywhere. Howard’s probably the least tradeable player on the team at this point.
Look, it is just barely possible, I guess, that the Phillies, and all the scouts and baseball experts are wrong, and the upper levels of the Phillies system are brimming, just brimming with future major league players – stars, even – who are being held back by the stupidity of the organization and the limits of conventional scouting. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s a case of fans who don’t really understand position requirements, age/level, and the fact that minor league stats don’t always translate to the majors.
http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120618&content_id=33523568&vkey=news_phi&c_id=phi
Good article by Paul Hagen about some of the Williamsport players
Decent article, except the remark about Serritella being from the University of Texas. No idea where that came from.
Andy Tracy said Larry Greene has a “plus-plus bat” and “light tower power.” The power we knew, but for the love of God I hope he’s right on the bat. I would so love to see a guy with such huge power with a plus-plus bat. It’d be like Howard’s rookie year all over again. Yes please.
Howard with a plus plus bat would be a hall of fame candidate.
Howard breaking in 2-3 years earlier and staying healthy is a HoF candidate.
But yeah, that would be awesome…completely agree that it would be fantastic if Larry realizes his potential.
Nah, no way. He’s at 23 career fWAR.. couple more years would add maybe another 10. You need around 60 usually to have a case.
You’re about 20 years early if you think the writers who got Hall of Fame votes are looking at those advanced stats IMO.
If Howard had debuted let’s say 2 full years early he could have an extra 90-100 HR’s. Assuming he comes back and hits some HR’s this season he would go into his age 33 season with close to 400 HR’s. If he averaged 25 HR’s a year the rest of his 30s that would then put him close to 600 HR’s by age 40. If he averaged 30 HR’s a year that would put him over 600 HR by 40. I think that’s definitely HOF territory for a guy not linked to PEDs. His slash line also would look pretty close to Willie McCovey’s although McCovey had back to back seasons as good as Howard’s MVP year to show for his prime.
As it stands Howard unless he comes back and at age 33/34/45 puts up several 40 HR’s season is likely to be a guy who finishes right around 500 HR maybe a little less, maybe a little more.
The numbers guys are already having a big impact on HOF voting. That impact will grow in the next 10 years before Howard’s eligibile.
That said, I am inclined to agree that a couple year’s earlier start, if indeed he really did put up those kind of numbers (no sure thing), and a less steep decline phase than we appear to be looking at, probably would have made him a strong HOF candidate in fact, if not in the eyes of modern statistical analysis.
Though looking at some recent first basemen who did not end up being strong cadidates makes you wonder somewhat. One factor that voters do seem to be taking into account is the conditions of the era – i.e., high offense. Obviously Howard’s career did not conform completely to the high offense era, but it did enough to somewhat discount his numbers. One wonders also if he will suffer from the PEDs effect – sure, he was never one to attract much suspicion on that front, but then neither was Bagwell and look at his voting performance.
The McCovey comparion ignores context, plate discipline and career length. Yes, I know we are assuming a longer career for Howard as part of the hypothetical, but McCovey’s career was exceptionally long.
FlyByNite….’If Howard had debuted let’s say 2 full years early he could have an extra 90-100 HR’s’…you mean after a half-year at High -A Clearwater! Not sure he was ready to make it in the mLB at that point.
Is is in some respects a silly hypothetical – but I assume the assumption is that he signed out of high school and developed faster in the minors – a not unreasonable assumption.
Thanks, missed the point on that hypothetical about ‘signed out of HS’. Probably would’ve be the case in that regards.
His rookie year line was .313/.425/.659 with 58 HRs, in case anyone here forgot (or wasn’t a Phillies fan yet). That’s what Howard with a plus plus bat looks like, except with fewer strikeouts most likely. If he (Greene) does indeed have a plus plus bat, that’s the kind of thing we can expect, albeit with a little less power probably (I’d expect him to average 40 HRs). Tracy was probably just speaking highly about one of his players because, hey, it’s his player. But usually people will use “looks good” as opposed to something as highly praising as plus plus. Here’s hoping.
Freddy Galvis suspended for steroids. I guess (and here’s the prospect relevance) we now have some insight into that sudden jump in power he experienced last year at Reading.
Really is too bad. I have to say, despite being a cynical guy, the possibility never even occurred to me. Though in retrospect, going from an ISO of .078 in AA in 2010 to an ISO of .137 in the majors in 2012 should have maybe set off a few alarm bells.
Gee, I guess it’s a good thing we still have Rollins, isn’t it.
Thought the same thing, when I saw the story today. ISO. Funny it didnt occur to me that he could be juicing, when most/all of his improvement offensively, was driven by his sudden power.
Really sucks, I honestly thought he was just naturally improving as he’s at that age where guys do add power and weight naturally.
Oh well…hope he comes back strong in 2013.
wow. really disappointing.
the article I saw didn’t say steroids, it said “banned substance.” Could be roids, but it could also be something like ritalin. Did you read something that specifically said what the substance was?
To be clear, it sucks regardless.
It was Clostebol. A weak steroid, but a steroid nonetheless.
Wonder if the steroids ill-affected the back issue, the pars fracture.
From what I know (admittedly not much), what he took doesn’t add all that much strength. I’m willing to bet a lot of his new strength just came from him growing. But it is disappointing that he took the stuff, although I’m at least glad he cares enough about getting better to go to such lengths. I guess it’s better than him just being content with having reached the major leagues.
I’m seriously going to have to reconsider my Hall of Fame vote now.
Even with all the comments I don’t think anyone’s mentioned him yet, but Josh Warner had a pretty nice day as Williamsport’s opening day starter. I was seriously considering him at the end of my last top 30, so let this be the first stop on his bandwagon.