Jason Donald watch

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The kid is on FIRE since coming back from his hand injury. His overall season line now looks like this

80 AB: .350/.453/.488 — 12 BB, 17 K, 4 SB

The only “downside” is just 6 extra base hits. But we’re nitpicking now. He’s quickly adapted to AA, the toughest jump for a prospect, and is hitting the ball extremely well. Now, do we ask him to give 3B a try at Reading?In any event, hes elevating his profile, whether it means hes our utility infielder next year or used in a deal to acquire a player of need for the big league club.

20 thoughts on “Jason Donald watch”

  1. You gotta like the fact that all the “experts” love his bat too. Phuture phils there’s a KLaw chat today at 1, maybe you could get his take on the guys in the Phillies system that are producing early such as Donald, Marson, Dom Brown. He never answers my questions!

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  2. Donald hit one out in last night’s game. Strange how he’s hitting almost 100 points higher against RH pitching than LH. But what’s with Cardenas? His back problem has kept him out for quite some time now.

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  3. James, can it hurt to ask him to try 3B? Obviously we don’t want it to affect his hitting, but if he can play a passable 3B, then his value improves immensely.

    If I’m the Phils, I begin to think of Donald as a utility guy for next year’s ML roster — so I therefore start to get him some work at 2B at 3B whenever I can. If he winds up being part of a deadline deal, then so be it, but the Phils should operate under the assumption that he’s here for the long term.

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  4. I don’t trust the phillies at all with injury information. He might have polio and they might call it lower back spasms.

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  5. If the Phillies trade Donald then they are as stupid as ever. Donald is our best hitting prospect (who is performing at a high lever of competition). They need to either move him to 3B, OF or wherever, just so we can get his bat in the lineup at the major league level this year, next year or anytime soon. Yes, Cardenas is hurt so that sucks, but as far as I am concerned Donald and Marson are the BEST hitting prospects in our entire system that are close to getting the call right now.

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  6. 80 ABs is only 80 ABs. He showed decent power last year in Clearwater (35 extra base hits in 336 ABs) so he has a bit of pop in his bat. As SS and 2B seem to be covered for now at the major league level, they’d almost have to move him to 3B if they expect he’ll make the team in the next year or two.

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  7. Donald does not have a 3B bat, a spot traditionally for power hitters. Donald is a utility guy most likely with a chance to become a 2B starter. I can’t think of any shortstops who can’t convert to playing 2B so I’m not worried about that future switch and would leave him at SS for the whole year. He has the most trade value if some team thinks he can start for them at SS so leave him for now.

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  8. With the lack of minor league talent that we have. I would really blow my mind that we would continue to just give it away to other teams for “pitching help.” It makes me sick to think that we would develop guys like Donald, Cardenas, Marson, Brown, Taylor etc…and then trade them for a “band-aid pitcher.” We’re not getting a Santana type pitcher in return, so hopefully these guys could just help us out on the Phillies big club and not someone else’s…We have no one left from the Thome or Abreu deal…that is another reason why our system is one of the worst. I would rather watch a young kids from our system take his bumps then continue to sign guys like Jenkins, Bruntlett (trade, i know), Helms, Feliz or anyone else that costs us money and block our younger guys.

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  9. Tom B.- Who is Jenkins blocking? None of our OF prospects are ready yet and with the Phills being a now team they are not goin gto let some young guy not ready come up and take a beating. Also Brunttlett was amazing in this Arizona series. He’s also a great UT guy to have around. All championship teams need really good benches.

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  10. Tom B., I think we all share your concerns to an extent, but as Section 113 said, the Phils are built to win now. Trading good prospects for “band-aid pitchers” isn’t a long-term strategy, but when your offense is very good and your pitching is subpar, you can afford to deal from an area of strength to help the team now.

    As far as Donald is concerned: with Rollins and Utley entrenched at SS and 2B, his value to the big league club in the next few years appears only to be a utility infielder (unless he has a sudden power spike to justify him playing 3B). His bat simply doesn’t play in the outfield; it makes a million times more sense to deal him for another piece than to play him that far out of position.

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  11. Actually, I think the Phillies have done a decent job of bringing position players along. Although they are sometimes a little slow in promoting players, once promoted, I think players get a reasonable amount of time to blend in, play and, if they are really good, force the issue and work into a full-time player. This what happened with Utley, Howard, Ruiz and Victorino.

    I am much less concerned about the team bringing along hitters than I am concerned about pitchers. Think about it, in the next two years, there is a decent chance that the Phils will have to replace 3/5 or even 4/5 of their rotation. For a borderline championship contended, that’s a huge deal. Moyer will be gone and so will Eaton. Myers could easily be lost in free agency and it’s unclear that Kendrick will stick. Furthermore, Lidge could easily depart after this season.

    So, instead of worrying about Jason Donald (he’ll be promoted as and when he earns it), we should be focused on Carrasco, Happ, Outman, Bastardo, Savery, and maybe even Carpenter and Overholt. These guys should be the center of attention right now as they are our immediate future – thank goodness several of them have ability.

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  12. watching reading is fun right now. their 2,3,4 hitters are really getting it done. that is a lot of talent up the middle of the field – catcher, ss, cf. all are playing well. i might be a homer, but i think those guys could absolutely translate into a top of the rotation pitcher. not sure who is out there after this offseason though.

    also, i don’t understand how people grade donald a utility player. a short stop to can get an ob% of 350 or higher is a regular.

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  13. And what is a “3B bat”…..

    Feliz will hit 20 HR this year and hes going to make 500 outs and hit .240. He’s maybe the best defensive 3B in baseball, but his bat has zero/almost negative value. If Donald hits .280 with a .360 OB% and 15 HR a year, his bat is fine at 3B. Remember, we employed the likes of David Bell and Wes Helms to play 3B. If their bats are good enough, Donald’s is more than good enough.

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  15. When your other three infielders are Rollins/Utley/Howard, what’s wrong with a 3B who can hit .290 with a high OBP? Also it’s not like Donald has no pop at all. Home run last night and two in a ST game this year. Just speculating, but maybe he’s starting to get some of his strength back from that (hand?) injury he had earlier on. Also let’s not forget where he’d be playing 81 games every year.

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  17. As long as his glove doesn’t detract from the team, I can’t see why he wouldn’t not only be a good third basemen but a moderate improvement. They’re winning right now and Feliz has a whopping .280 career OBP and like a .220 BA right now and certainly hasn’t been smacking the ball out of the park often enough to consider him a great power asset to the team. If we get 60 HR’s a year from SS and 2B, who the hell cares how many we get from 3B. I’d rather have a guy that can put the ball in play as a 2 or 3 hole hitter than a 7 or 8 hole who is a free out for the other team 80% of the time.

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  18. Matching a position with the home run numbers they ought to be putting up is just illogical. What’s wrong with having 8 position players that only hit 20 home runs but bat .280 and above. Personally, I’d love to see the Phils manufacture some runs by running the basepaths aggressively and bunting guys over. You get just as many runs for a sac fly with a guy on third as you would for a solo home run. If the kid can field the position, let him play there. How many teams can say they have the kind of production in the middle infield that we do in ours? Give JD a shot at 3rd!

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  19. once again i bring up the sad saga of ryne sandberg, the 3rd baseman who couldnt play ss or the scouts would have you believe. if you have the arm to play ss you have the arm to play 3rd. as far as power goes when your 2nd baseman and ss hit 60 hr,s its irrelavant how many hrs your 3rd baseman hits, as long as he gives you double power.i believe steve g brought this up. kudos. if donald is traded youll be kicking the phils for a long time.

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  20. pp im glad you see the value of donald. this is one of the prospects i deem untouchable. i am very disapointed in feliz and even without this i see donald as our 3rd baseman of the near future, that is why he should be playing 3rd right now. are you old enough to remember sandberg the 3rd baseman at reading being traded because they said he couldnt play ss. what nonsense.

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