I’m going to create a special little category on the left side along with the other features specifically for cataloging the appearances of Phillies prospects in Kevin Goldstein’s Monday Morning 10 Pack, as well as the Baseball America Hot Sheet, which I believe will be coming out on Friday’s now. Joe Savery popped up today
Joe Savery, lhp, High-A Clearwater (Phillies)
On a prospect level, it was the pitching matchup of the day on Sunday, as Lakeland and super-stud Rick Porcello paid a visit to Clearwater, who countered with their 2007 own first-round pick in Savery. While Porcello pitched well again, and got hurt once more by bad defense and occasional control lapses, Savery stole the show with eight shutout innings that included four strikeouts and 14 ground balls. After three starts, Savery has given up just two runs over 20 innings while limiting batters to a .217 average. While Carlos Carrasco is off to a fine start at Double-A, Savery’s left-handedness and groundball tendencies just might have him looking like the better prospect by the end of the season.
Phuture Phillies 
The really exciting thing with Savery is that as he continues on the road back from labrum surgery and spends all of his time pitching (which he didn’t in college), he’s only going to get better. What he’s been able to do so far with only so-so command is impressive, so if he’s able to improve that element of his game, he could turn out to be an absolute steal at 19.
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If he stays healthy he should be in the Phillies rotation sometime next season, possibly on opening day as the replacement for Moyer.
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You mention the 14 ground balls which is good, but no mention of K’s. Is he a strike out pitcher? Or does he have the stuff to develop into one?
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Agreed. With Moyer’s and Gordon’s contracts up and Lidge a free agent next year. it seems like Myers will go back to closing in 09. Then with two openings in the rotation for next year, Savery and Carrasco are clearly the early favorites. Hope that Savery gets the call up to Reading soon so he can start using the wooden bat.
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Savery’s lack of strike outs concerns me. I don’t know who it was, but you had a baseball reporter on the site last year and he said something that i fully agree with, “top prospects strike out a lot of batters in the minors.” i would like to know top pitchers who had average strikeout numbers in the minors. maybe 4/5 starters, but not top of the rotation guys. i hope that his k rate improves as his arm gets stronger and location improves.
contrast him to a guys like bastardo. really high k rate but also a high walk rate. which means he makes guys miss, but can consistently find the zone. that is correctable.
happy to see his progress, but let’s see what happens. i am not sold yet on savery.
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mean to say
which means he makes guys miss, but can not consistently find the zone. that is correctable.
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Rickey… I don’t think it’s a given that Myers returns to the pen. The Phils could re-sign Lidge or could sign K-Rod or Brandon Lyon; the point is that it’s much easier to find a solid closer than it is to find a solid #2 starter.
PP Fan… while I understand your concerns about Savery’s strikeouts so far, let’s remember that he’s still coming all the way back from surgery. Look at his K numbers from college, from freshman year (129 K in 118.2 IP) to junior year (61 K in 93.1 IP). Hopefully he’s getting his command and raw stuff back, but in the meantime, he’s getting tons of ground balls (2.07 GO/AO) and has been tough to hit (.217 BAA).
And as for a top of the rotation guy who didn’t wow with his K numbers in the minors… how about last year’s second runner-up for the AL Cy Young, John Lackey (only 7.01 K/9 in 556 IP)?
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was that lackey’s numbers in the minors or majors? i mean a top of the rotation guy who didn’t have high k rate in the minors. usually those guys dominate in the minors.
i hear you and hope you are right about savery. by all means, i hope you are right. i am a diehard phillies fan and would love to have another top of the rotation guy.
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I don’t see Savery as a #1 or 2 (yet) but also do not see himas bottom of rotation, Looks like a #3 type–some days dominant, but some days average.
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Hey guys, I haven’t seen Savery since last year, so I don’t know what effect ST had on his mechanics, but I am just a little weary of his arm motion. Especially since he already had his labrum problems. I think he can be great – everyone projects his ceiling to be quite high, but I am just not sure for how long. Anyone who saw him recently have anything?
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With Hamels likely to assume the staff’s #1 position, Savery could/would be a #2…but usually teams like to move lefty-right changes in rotation. Might end up as #3…with #1 ability.
Savery seems like he was born to play pro baseball. At Rice he played 1b when he wasn’t pitcdhing and I believe he hit at #3 or #4 in their lineup…because he could hit and with some power.
He did manage to escape further damage from Rice’s notorious arm-trouble for their pitchers over the recent years…only because he had arm surgery after his 1st year pitching for them While his healing continued he played 1b and came back in ’07 to the mound…seeking to regain his former high prospect status. The Phils watched carefully, liked what they saw, assessed his medical condition, and decided to take a Hamels-type chance on him. He had previous to his arm problems been rated among the elite pitching prospects in the country.
Now, he is readying himself to to fulfill that assessment. He is a BALLPLAYER with great ambition who is still refining his game and is eminently coachable.
Should he continue his work at Clwtr, he’d soon enough be moved up to Reading. Should he continue his fine work THERE, I wouldn’t count out his being called up in Sept to the big club.!
We’ll see…
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I don’t really like the comparison of Savery’s injury and Hamels’s injury. Hamels broke his arm playing football, not pitching, and it was a clean break, an injury not likely to re-occur. Savery’s injury had neither aspect going for him and thus much be watch with extreme caution in the future.
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The injuries are nothing alike.
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His delivery looks great- until he finishes, maybe its getting him deception and sink, but even in the still photos his glove hand looks awkward, really pulling away from his body. I get a sense that he’ll put up a few good seasons before going down again at some point.
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If anyone wants strike outs, Carrasco is tied for first in the EL and Castro and Outman join him in the top 10. Bastardo is second in the FSL and Brummett is second and Naylor third in the Sally. All are averaging at least a strike out an inning so far.
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Did anyone notice the Pigs first win yesterday? Who had April 14 in the first win pool? Chiavachi (sp) pitched extremely well. Savery pitched well yesterday also. I noticed Savery doesn’t have a stolen base against him this year. 2 caught stealings and 2 pickoffs. That shows a little polish. I like to see a pitcher keep the guys on base close. I’m sure Gosewisch likes it too.
Carpenter continues to concern me. I think it was BertMurr who mentioned it sounds like he’s nursing some injury but didn’t know for sure. He had another bad outing yesterday or at least one bad inning.
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James, with Savery having pitched ~95 innings last year, his health track record, and the Verducci “Rule of 30” you cite in a later post, how do you think the Phils should be planning to manage his exposure this year? What’s the right balance between protecting his arm and furthering his development?
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Bellman, see my summation on Carpenter in the Reading Phillies Weekly Roundup thread.
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I’m a big fan of piggybacking starters in their first 2-3 seasons in pro baseball. I’d let him keep starting games for the first 3 months and never let him throw more than 100 pitches in a start. Come July, I’d shorten his outings and have him focus more on certain pitches. Ideally, he’d finish the season around 110-120 IP. Of course, most teams don’t follow these rules, so if he stays healthy, I fully expect him to end up in the 140-150 range, which wouldn’t be good.
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Pitching prospects are starting to find their way on to the DL already. Lakewood’s Matos with a shoulder and Reading’s Will Savage with an elbow are on the DL.
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