Daily Archives: May 30, 2008

Latin American Update – End of May

1. VSL/DSL

Tomorrow is opening day for the Phillies DSL squad.  They play in the Santo Domingo North division and are coming off of a division-winning season where they went 45-18 behind a squad featuring lots of young players.  While multiple players from last season’s team are likely to graduate to GCL this year (Sebastian Valle, Yohan Flande, Ferrel Gomez, Lendy Castillo, Leandro Castro, Vlad De Los Santos, Ebelin Lugo, and Reginal Simon), several younger prospects remain.  Expect to see Rudney Balentien and Miguel Alvarez in the OF and Juan Sosa and Pedro Carpio heading up the pitching staff.  In addition, we are also likely to see the debut of high priced SS Carlos Valenzuela and the first full season from RHP Gabriel Arias. Continue reading Latin American Update – End of May →

Daily Discussion; 5/30-6/2

Other Stuff

I’m going to be out of town this weekend and will not be arriving back till late Monday, so while I’m gone, behave yourselves and discuss the games that happen, as well as these tidbits;

* There is something very very wrong with Andrew Carpenter. Last night he went 4.1 IP — 8 ER — 9 H– 2 BB — 3 K. Now I know the jump from A+ to AA is the toughest in the minors outside of short season to Low A, but come on. Troubling as well is the 1.17 GO: AO ratio. I hinted 6 weeks ago that he had to be handled carefully because of the workload increase he saw in 2007, but it looks like he couldn’t have been handled carefully enough.

* Travis Mattair is hitting .333 over his last 10 games, with 3 of his 6 doubles for the season coming over that span. He’s racked up the strikeouts (45), but has already drawn 16 walks as well. Mattair was a three sport star in high school and turned down multiple scholarships to play baseball. I kind of suspected he’d be a bit of a project, but he is already showing signs of the raw ability. While the power hasn’t emerged yet, he seems to be making adjustments, and you have to figure the HR will come for a kid who is 6’5, 210 lbs.

* Josh Outman has given up 6 ER in his last 4 innings, covering 3 relief appearances, and that comes after a string of 10 scoreless innings. His splits so far this season;

SP: 25.2 IP — 3.16 ERA — 29 H — 15 BB — 32 K — .279 BA
RP: 17.1 IP — 4.15 ERA — 16 H — 8 BB — 16 K — .258 BA

Its still a small sample, but so far, I’m sure the results are not what the Phillies were hoping for. His control is still an issue against both lefties and righties, but he is holding lefties to a .222 BA against. I think he should be in Philly at some point this season, but it might take a little longer than some thought.

Ok, I’m off for a long weekend. Don’t burn the place down while I’m gone.