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AA Game Review: Reading Phillies vs Richmond Flying Squirrels (SF Giants) – 4-24-12
Reading improved to an impressive 12-5 on a chilly Tuesday evening at First Energy Stadium, beating San Francisco’s AA affiliate 6-0. The big story here was Tyler Cloyd, who easily handled Richmond’s prospect laden lineup which includes top farmhands Gary Brown , OF, and Tommy Joseph, C / 1b. Reading’s own talented offense provided plenty of support, breaking things open with a four run seventh inning.

Starting Pitcher – Tyler Cloyd – 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5K, W

Cloyd was impressive throughout, throwing strikes and rarely falling behind hitters. Working fast, He relied heavily on his fastball, which sat around 88 – 90mph, keeping it down in the zone and blowing it by hitters for three of his five strikeouts. His breaking pitches are just average, but he located them well and successfully kept hitters off balance throughout. Most impressive was his command and control. He rarely fell behind hitters and pounded the strike zone from the first pitch, getting plenty of groundball outs and allowing no free passes. Cloyd has a smooth, compact overhand delivery and looks very comfortable on the mound. He improved to 3-0 with a 2.37 ERA and has yet to allow a walk in his three starts.

Catcher – Sebastian Valle – 0-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SO

Valle had an uneventful night at the plate, though he clearly is working on his plate discipline. He worked the count well in his first at bat but ended up striking out with a big, off-balance power stroke. His walk was intentional, and his contact was weak, failing to square up on the ball. He now has 19 strikeouts in 50 at bats. Behind the plate, Valle looked very comfortable and had a good rapport with his starting pitcher. He has a strong, accurate arm and a good pop-up throw to second. It’s easy to see his power potential – His swing is smooth and features good weight transfer, and he has a solid, filled out frame – but his timing seemed off and he struggled to get good wood on the ball.

2B – Cesar Hernandez – 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SO, 1 RBI, 1 CS
Cesar had a good night, getting on base twice and showing patience at the plate. He worked an RBI walk in his 3rd at bat and hit a nice ground ball single through the left side in the first inning. He was caught trying to steal second, however; he didn’t get a great jump and was thrown out easily on a good throw. Still, he has plus speed and looks very comfortable in the field.

RF – Jiwan James – 2-4, 1 double, 2 RBI
James was impressive at the plate and in the field. He worked counts well, especially in his fourth at bat where he waited for his pitch and drove it into left field for a two run double. His speed is clearly a plus tool; in his second at bat he legged out a bunt single, and in the outfield he ran excellent routes, gliding to every fly ball and nearly making a spectacular diving catch in the seventh inning, missing it by inches. Jiwan is big and tall and looks like a natural at the plate and in the outfield with quick hands and a strong swing which features near textbook weight transfer. He entered Tuesday’s game with a .319 batting average and a.942 OPS. There is plenty to be excited about here.

CF – Tyson Gillies – 1-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SB
Returning to action after missing nearly two full seasons to injuries, Gillies has plenty to prove and he looked good on Tuesday. At the plate, he took pitches and effectively worked the count, getting just his second walk of the season. He also added a line drive single to left field in the seventh inning, and then stole second easily. His swing looked polished; he has quick hands, and has already shown a glimpse of his pre-injury power with one HR, three doubles and two triples on the year thus far. A good start for Tyson’s “must-produce” season.

Others

Leandro Castro – worked his first walk of the season but was lacking at the plate generally, unable to get decent contact on the ball. He looked fine in LF in limited chances

Darin Ruf – Hit the first pitch he saw over the left field fence and just missed another homerun in his second at bat. He added an RBI single in the seventh. Ruf is a big man and he swings for the fences. No mistakes in the field

Troy Hanzawa – the 26 year old Hawaiian made a couple of outstanding plays at SS, showing excellent range, glove work and arm strength.

Conclusion

Tyler Cloyd and Jiwan James were the standouts on Tuesday night, and there was plenty to like from the rest of Reading’s promising young roster, both at the plate and on defense. There is still plenty of room for improvement, and it will be interesting to see how the season plays out for Reading’s prospects.

The pitching was inconsistent over the last two weeks…the best was Austin Hyatt, who was 3-0 as a starter and yielded only an average of 3 runs a start while pitching at least 6 innings in each outing. A poster at one of the R-Phils games reported Hyatt’s fastball velocity in the low 90s, which is a good sign.  JC Ramirez had two bad starts leading up to his excellent outing today, so maybe he went through a dead-arm period.  Ryan Edell was 1-1, but the bullpen blew a lead for him after his best start. Josh Zeid was 0-2, and lost a start to a rainout. Chris Kissock continues to struggle at AA, going 0-2, although the RPhils won one of his starts after he departed.

Offensively, Michael Spidale has been hot, hitting .323 but only posting a .699 OPS over his last 10 games.  Cody Overbeck has been ice cold average-wise, but 3 of his 7 hits have been HRs, so the power numbers continue to be solid. Matt Rizzotti has been hot over his last 10, hitting .421 with a 1.120 OPS, but only 4 of his hits were for extra bases. Carlos Rivero has also been on fire, posting a .359 average and a 1.046 OPS. Even Fidel Hernandez has been smoking the ball, hitting .382 over his last 10 games with an OPS over .900. No one else has been particularly cold, so, given the offensive production, the low number of runs has to be attributed at least somewhat to bad timing or bad luck. They have also lost the relatively close games (with the exception of Hyatt’s start two weeks ago) and won the blowouts, which is partly on the bullpen, particularly DeFratus, Diekman, and Ellis, who, even when allowing few runs, have been permitting base runners at an alarming rate.

All teams go through lulls, let’s hope the next two weeks, featuring games against Portland, Richmond, Trenton, and Erie see a resumption in their winning ways.

First the offense, which is first in the EL in runs scored: Cody Overbeck and Matt Rizzotti are the team leaders in the heart of the order, both in the league top-10 in AVE and OPS (Overbeck is 4th in OPS at .945, and Rizzotti 6th at .929). Three other full-time players have been contributing consistently: Derrick Mitchell, Carlos Rivero, and Freddy Galvis, all of whom have OBPs over .325, and OPSs over .700 where the league average is barely over .660.  Galvis, who in previous years contributed mainly with his glove, has had an OPS of .833 in his last 10 games, and is hitting quite well against LH pitchers and in day games.  At 21 years of age, Galvis is still very young for AA baseball.  The 22-year-old Rivero has been getting on base at an excellent .375 clip.  So far this year he’s making better, more consistent contact, reducing his Ks and increasing his walk rate while posting an .898 OPS over the last 10 games. Because he’s been pretty inconsistent from game to game, I’m a bit doubtful that this signifies anything more than a small sample size fluctuation for him, though.  Derrick Mitchell has been playing a very solid CF and contributing offensively with an occasional HR.  He needs to strike out a bit less and walk a bit more. The offense will miss Harold Garcia, who was lost for the season when he tore his ACL on April 19th in a collision at first base while legging out a bunt single.

On the mound, the bullpen has been dependable for the most part, and the starters have been decent, with Zeid and Kissock in particular looking better recently.  The whole staff pitches to contact, with only Philippe Aumont and BJ Rosenberg striking out more than one batter per IP.  The staff overall is third in the EL in ERA. Zeid’s last start, when he was pulled after five no-hit innings, was obviously his best, and came against a Portland team that raked him earlier in the season. Kissock also excelled in his last start, pitching a 7-inning, 3-hit shutout against Erie. He is a fly-ball pitcher who doesn’t get a lot of Ks, so I’m not sure how bright his future is. One more pitcher who is really contributing to the team is Mike Cisco, who seems to be playing the role of fifth-and-a-half starter, pitching about every 4 or 5 days and throwing 3-5 innings.  He’s been effective in all five of his outings, allowing only a .172 opposition average.

JC Ramirez needs his own entire post, but, briefly, he’s been pitching brilliantly in terms of results, but not striking anyone out–sort of the Kyle Kendrick of the Eastern League. He only has 6 Ks in more than 26 innings of pitching, so he’s actually making Kendrick look like Nolan Ryan at this point. He’s succeeding by keeping the ball in the park and not walking anyone.  Against lefties, he’s not allowed a walk, and he’s inducing almost four times as many GBs as FBs, which is a key point in his success, since many righties struggle against portsiders. He’s holding all batters to an .071 average with RISP, so that’s helping as well.  His BABIP numbers should normalize a bit, so he’ll need to start striking out a few more hitters to maintain his successful start.

Reading finishes a week-long homestand with a game versus Portland today (Austin Hyatt starting), and a 4-game series versus New Hampshire (a team that has given them trouble over the last several seasons) Monday through Thursday. They then hit the road (a short road, really), playing at arch-rivals Harrisburg and Trenton, against whom they’ve also struggled in the recent past.  They return home a week from Thursday, strangely to play New Hampshire again for four more games.

In terms of team stats, the team has been an offensive juggernaut, leading the league in average by 20 points at .297, OBP by 25 points at .355, and SLG by 70 points at .470. Their 11 HRs lead the league by 6, and they are 2nd in doubles and tied for third in walks. They have scored 12 more runs than the second place team.  Small sample size, but it’s still impressive considering most of the damage was on the road.  Their only apparent offensive weakness right now is team speed, and when (if?) Tyson Gillies returns it will at least partially address that.

Reading’s 2.89 ERA puts them 5th in the league, but only Akron’s peripheral numbers look significantly better. Their 30 walks put them near the bottom of the league in control, so addressing that issue could help.

Individually, Matt Rizzotti is leading the league in AVG at .487 and is the runaway leader in SLG at .909. His 1.396 OPS is 290 OPS points above the second place hitter, Will Middlebrooks of Portland. Whether he reported to camp fat (as rumored) or not, Rizz is killing the ball and outclassing the league in the early going. Cody Overbeck’s 1.036 OPS puts him second on the team. Harold Garcia is the third .300 hitter on the team who is qualified for the batting title, though Tuffy Gosewisch (.350 in 6 games) and Steve Susdorf (.385 in 4 games) are also contributing. I won’t bother with lots of individual “splits” detail as at this point splits can be easily accessed at milb.com early in the year. Austin Hyatt is the team ERA leader at 1.80, and Phillippe Aumont and Mike Cisco are tied for the team lead in saves (with 1).

With Chris Frey nursing an injury, it appears Derrick Mitchell is going to get the regular CF job–Susdorf, Spidale, and Mitchell is a good offensive outfield, but quite a few fly balls are going to drop in given their limited speed.

Reading will conclude its home stand with a make-up DH versus Akron tomorrow, and two early-week games against Erie.  They will subsequently commence a 7-game road trip against the same two teams.  With Akron’s pitching, their early offensive success will certainly be tested.

Lehigh Valley: Catchers: Erik Kratz and Dane Sardinha

Infield: Tagg Bozied, Josh Barfield, Jeff Larish, Kevin Frandsen, Robby Hudson

Outfield: Matt Miller, Rich Thompson, Brandon Moss, Delwyn Young, Cory Sullivan

Starters: Nate Bump, Drew Naylor, Vance Worley, Ryan Feirabend, Brian Bass, Eddie Bonine

Relievers: Matt Anderson, Drew Carpenter, Jason Grilli, Scott Mathieson, Michael Schwimer, Mike STutes, Dan Meyer, Mike Zagurski, Juan Perez.

Lehigh Valley will need to cut three players from this list by opening day, next Thursday April 7th.

Reading:

Catcher: Tuffy Gosewisch, Tim Kennelly, John Suomi

Infield: Matt Rizzotti, Freddy Galvis, Harold Garcia, Fidel Hernandez, Cody Overbeck, Carlos Rivero

Outfield: Chris Frey, Derrick Mitchell, Steve SUsdorf, Mike Spidale

Starters: Austin Hyatt, Josh Zeid, JC Ramirez, Ryan Edell, Mike Cisco

Relievers: Tyson Brummett, Chance Chapman, BJ Rosenberg, Phillipe Aumont, Justin DeFratus, Jacob Diekman, Chris Kissock.