Just figured I’d throw this up now. The Phillies finally did the right thing putting Jimmy Rollins on the DL. Brad Harman gets the call, and I can only imagine that is because Jason Donald still isn’t 100% after being hit on the hand a week ago. Harman has come a long way after a really disappointing 2006 to making his big league debut less than 2 years later. Heres hoping for all the best for Brad.
Baseball America does a little feature on the website where they mention who just missed their team’s top 10 list, and Harman was the guy for the Phillies, which means he’ll end up as prospect #11 in their Top 30. Here’s the blurb
Brad Harman, 2b, Phillies. Harman played on Australia’s World Baseball Classic team as a 20-year-old before enduring a trying 2006, but he got back on track last season. He once again looks like a potential .280 hitter with 15 homers per year. With a quicker first step, he might even be able to play shortstop.
As a big Harman fan, this is obviously nice to see. 2008 is going to be a pivotal year for Harman’s baseball career.
Brad Harman, a personal favorite of mine, had a scorching second half of the season. In his age 21 season, playing at High A Clearwater, Harman finished the season posting OPS numbers of 1.033 and .998 in July and August. Knowing that, and looking at all of his numbers, where do you think he will rank in the Phillies Top 30 prospect list this offseason?
After taking game one from the Mantees at their own home park, the Threshers looked to take another win on Sunday night and return to Clearwater on Monday needing just one more win for the FSL Championship. The Manatees on the other hand looked to stay alive in their final home game of the year. Read the rest of this entry »
About 2 months ago, I noted that Brad Harman was starting to piece things together and was rebounding nicely from his slow start. Today, I noticed a comment in that old post that caught my eye. Here it is;
Now, anyone can leave a comment here, using any name they’d like, but this strikes me as something that doesn’t feel made up. In fact, I checked the IP address, and it comes back as being from Australia. So, Mr Harman, thank you for checking. This comment is real interesting to me. Baseball America, as well as other major prospect outlets claimed that Brad’s mother had passed away, I think everyone thought this was the case, and it’s obviously great to hear that she is fine. With that said, here’s a quick snapshot of Harman’s numbers from the beginning of the year till now;
APR : 99 PA — .226/.242/.323 — 2.1% BB — 31.3% K — 28.6% XBH — .093 ISO
MAY: 84 PA — .221/.307/.221 — 10.7% BB — 20.2% K– 0.0% XBH — .000 ISO
JUN: 89 PA — .272/.337/.457 — 9.0% BB — 20.2% K — 45.5% XBH — .185 ISO
JUL: 76 PA — .313/.392/.597 — 13.2% BB — 22.4% K — 38.1% XBH — .297 ISO
AUG: 104 PA — .330/.385/.564 — 7.7% BB — 21.2% K — 48.4% XBH — .234 ISO
As you can see, it’s been a tale of two halves for him. He turns 22 in November, and is on track to start next season in AA, where he will still be on track in terms of age relative to level. The key is to continue to hit for power, as he’s done over the last three months, while keeping his walk rate somewhere around 10% and his K rate at no more than 22-23%. Harman has definitely regained some of his prospect status with a solid 3 months.
Though it wasn’t his prettiest game of the year the bullpen picked him up and helped get Andrew Carpenter his record tying 15th win of the year. Andrew joins Ezequiel Astacio of the 2003 Clearwater Phillies as the only Clearwater pitcher to have ever earned 15 wins in a season. Andrew currently has a record of 15-6 and is 8-2 since the all-star break with an ERA of 2.22 over that stretch.
The Clearwater Threshers have continued to experience success this season, and we’ve gotten to see some solid talent in the Clearwater lineup for the first time in what seems like forever. The team is currently in third place in their division 3.5 games behind the Tampa Yankees with 28 games remaining on the team’s schedule for 2007.
Since my last Clearwater update center fielder Greg Golson has been promoted to Reading along with left handed pitcher Josh Outman. Meanwhile Alex Concepcion, Andrew Cruse and Ben Pfinsgraff have been added to the Threshers rotation from Lakewood.
It’s been a few weeks since my last Threshers update, so I figured I’d better get on the ball. The Threshers finished the first half of the year in third place behind first-half champs the Sarasota Reds and the Tampa Yankees. In the second half of the season the boys have been cruising along right where thay left off. They currently sit in third one game behind Tampa in first and 1/2 game behind Dunedin in second.
There have been a lot of roster moves since the first half so it is almost like a new team in the secnd part of the year. Just before the all-star break Pat Overholt was promoted to Reading, and since the all-star break Carlos Carrasco was promoted to Reading as well. This has left a power vaccuum for starting pitchers in Clearwater that has yet to be filled.
Ben Pfinsgraff and Alex Concepcion have been promoted from Lakewood to fill the empty spots, and Luis Villerreal has been added as a free agent to fill the spot of Dan Brauer who is on the DL. So far these additions have seen mixed results. Concepcion had a tough first outting, but was solid in his next two starts, and very good in his most recent trip to the hill giving up just four hits in seven innings of work. Unfortunately those hits included two solo home runs and a triple for three runs, but the offense helped him out with an 8-4 win.
Pfinsgraff has a 6.75 ERA at Clearwater in an up and down start in his three games. He went 5.0 innings in his first start giving up three runs but earning a loss with no run support. In his second start he was excellent going 7.0 innings with no runs on four hits and four Ks but got a no decision again thanks to no offensive support. IN his most recent outing he was pummeled for eight runs on nine hits in just 2.2 innings of work.
Brad Harman (a Phuturephillies favorite) has turned things up since the break hitting .400 in July while starting at just .237 before the all-star break. Clay Harris who lead the SAL last year in HR got off to a rough start in Clearwater hitting just .196 before the break, but has improved to .314 since then. Catching prospect Lou Marson who earned an all-star game bid has done even better since the break as well hitting .321 since then.
Starting pitcher Josh Outman has continued to put up impressive numbers with a 9-2 record and a 2.08 ERA as a starter with 96Ks in 97.2 innings of work. (Josh’s overall ERA stand at 2.58 skewed by one relief appearance where he gave up 7 runs in 2.2 innings of work).
Starting pitcher Andrew Carpenter has been a pleasant suprise for the team with a 9-5 record and a 3.80 ERA. He had a recent 25.0 scoreless innings streak snapped in his last game when he gave up three runs in his most recent outting.
If you remember back to this past winter, I have a bit of a soft spot for Brad Harman. He seems like a genuinely good kid, he made a bigtime impression 2 years ago, and he’s dealt with a ton of off the field adversity in his short time in the Phillies organization. His 2006 was marred by the death of his mother back in Australia, and he still played the season, despite clearly being in another place mentally. Because of all of these factors, I was very high on Brad entering this season, thinking this would be his bounceback campaign. Through April and May, it looked like maybe I was off my rocker. But in June, he’s turning things around. Could this be the start of him re-entering the prospect chatter? Let’s have a look.
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:34 pm eI’m Brads dad just to let you know his Mum didn’t pass away in 2006 and is still going strong he just strugled with the jump to Clearwater and being a long way from home. I speak to Brad on a regular basis and he is working hard on his hitting and the move to 2B I think has helped. We speak mainly about his mental approach and his mechanics, we all know he can play defence and every thing else will come with experience remember he is only 21.
Cheers.
Chris Harman.