Monthly Archives: June 2008

BlueClaws players shine in SALLY All-Star game

4. Lakewood, Game Recaps, Other Stuff

In a game featuring the best of the best, Lakewood clearly demonstrated that it has players that can clearly play with the best of them. Michael Taylor, who began the game batting cleanup went 2-5, with an RBI double. Any doubt about Michael Durant‘s ability to come back from injury? Forget it – as the North’s DH, Durant went 2-5, scoring twice and hitting a two-run homerun in the 8th inning. Joel Naughton came in for the North in the 7th inning, to go 1-2 while scoring a run. From a defensive standpoint, it is worth noting that four of the six hitters to come to the plate while Naughton was catching struck out. The performance only helped to cement Naughton’s place as the top defensive catcher in the SAL. On the year, Naughton has caught twenty-seven would-be stealers, at a 46.6% rate, ranking hiim first among all catchers in the SAL.

Drew Naylor was named the game’s Most Outstanding Pitcher. On a night where no pitcher threw more than one inning, Naylor made his count, throwing a perfect inning in the 6th. After inducing a ground-out for the first out, Naylor struck out the rest of the side in earning the award.

Williamsport opens the season with a loss

3. Williamsport

The short season leagues are getting under way, which means one more scoreboard to watch every night, and a slew of prospects both new and old to add to the radar screen. Williamsport kicked off their season with a 4-3 loss to Mahoning Valley, the Indians short season affiliate. Freddy Ballestas started, going 5 innings and allowing 3 runs, 2 earned on 7 hits with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts, while getting 8 groundballs and 4 fly balls. Travis d’Arnaud opened up 3/4, and newly drafted Brandon Haislet went 2/5 out of the leadoff spot. It will be interesting to see how the lineup is rotated to get everyone reps, but tonight’s configuration is likely to be the “normal” lineup.

Encouraging signs from Julian Sampson

Other Stuff

I was very high on Julian Sampson coming into this season, ranking him #18 on my top 30 prospects list entering the season despite him only making one pro appearance prior to 2008. The Phillies got aggressive with Sampson, assigning him to Lakewood. I suspected he might struggle early on, as he was still a raw product out of the Pacific Northwest, but I figured he’d slowly turn the corner and adjust well once he got going. It looks like my suspicions may have been correct. Lets take a look at some splits

Continue reading Encouraging signs from Julian Sampson →

Lakewood Report 6/10-6/15

4. Lakewood

As they head into the All-Star break, the Lakewood BlueClaws have finished the first half tied for third place in the SAL Northern. In a week that began by dropping both games of a Tuesday double-header, the Lakewood BlueClaws sent four players to Tuesday’s All-Star game and Michael Taylor took home honors for Player of the Month for the month of May.

Continue reading Lakewood Report 6/10-6/15 →

Kevin Goldstein’s draft review

2008 Draft

KG is reviewing each division’s 2008 draft over at BP, and he did the NL East on Saturday. Here’s what he had to say

Draft Philosophy: Tools, tools, and more tools! Must have more tools! Enough to fill the shed!

First Pick: Anthony Hewitt, SS, Salisbury School (CT) (24th overall>
How High He Could Have Gone: There were some teams considering him towards the middle of the first round, but he was a very polarizing player. Some think he slotted well as a mid-first-round talent, others wouldn’t have touched him until the first 100 picks were already off the board.
Path To The Big Leagues: It won’t be quick. The best athlete in the draft is also one of the furthest away from the majors. He might not even be in Double-A by 2011, so be patient, Phils fans.

Rest of the First Day:
1. Zach Collier, OF, Chino Hills (CA): Expected to go about ten picks earlier; a touch less athletic than Hewitt, but a touch more polished.
2. Anthony Gose, OF, Bellflower HS (CA): A better pitching prospect, but he doesn’t want to pitch. As an outfielder, he’s loaded with tools, especially speed.
2. Jason Knapp, RHP, North Hunterdon HS (NJ): The pitching version of Hewitt. He’s huge and he throws very hard, but that’s about it.
3. Vance Worley, RHP, Long Beach State: A big-bodied pitcher with good velocity, but he has problems with his secondary stuff and control.
4. Trevor May, RHP, Kelso HS (WA): A projectable arm who needs refinement, but the ceiling is there.
5. Jeremy Hamilton, 1B, Wright State: The rare non-toolsy pick for the Phils–-he put up big numbers in college but doesn’t thrill scouts.
6. Colby Shreve, RHP, Southern Nevada CC (NV): Gifted with a plus sinker/slider combination, but he just had a Tommy John surgery.

Best Second-Day Selections:
7. Johnny Coy, 3B, Benton HS (MO): He May be more raw than Hewitt, but he’s 6’7″ and athletic, so there’s plenty to dream on.
8. Julio Rodriguez, RHP, Puerto Rico Baseball Academy (PR): Tall, projectable arm fits in well with team’s philosophy.
10. Jean Carlos Rodriguez, C, Washington HS (NY): Like most Philly picks, he’s raw, but he’s got a good arm and a ton of strength.

Monday’s random musings

Other Stuff

Just some random Monday notes…

* According to the Reading Eagle, Greg Golson has a wrist problem, and Antonio Bastardo has some shoulder inflammation. I wonder if the wrist injury might explain Golson’s recent run of bad form.

* Lou Marson’s stat line, as of right now; .356/.459/.454 How about the best stat lines for some of today’s elite catchers in their minor league career

Mauer, age 20 (A+/AA): .338/.396/.434
Martin, age 22 (AA): .311/.430/.423
McCann, age 20 (A+): .278/.332/.494
Martinez, age 23 (AA): .336/.413/.576

Sweet Lou’s OB% obliterates the competition, as does his batting average. Last Friday, during the BA Hotsheet Chat, Ben Badler made this comment about Marson;

Do you think Lou Marson is a true .353 hitter, or do you think there might be a bit of noise and good fortune in those numbers? I like Marson’s line-drive approach and his knowledge of the strike zone. So when Marson is back to hitting .280 (or maybe .260, his career minor league average) and slugging in the high 300s, how valuable is that? I think his power has the potential for some moderate growth, but 220 or so good PAs aren’t going to turn a guy into a star prospect. That’s not to say I don’t think he can be a big league regular… let’s just not get carried away.

While I understand the skepticism, to a degree, I think we’re past the point where you can call this fluky. Sure, Marson isn’t gonna hit .360 for the entire season, and he’s not a .350+ hitter, but the plate discipline is for real, as he’s shown that ability in prior seasons. The only thing left is the power, but power is often late to develop for catchers, and Marson still has some projection left in terms of growth, as he doesn’t turn 22 for another couple weeks.

Continue reading Monday’s random musings →

Iron Pigs Mid Season Report Card

7. Lehigh Valley

Lehigh Valley has certainly played better during the second quarter of the season (even if there was only one place to go), and credit must be given to the front office, manager and players for recognizing several “problem areas”, and either let them go, or addressed them.  Several fundamentally sound players were brought in after the horrific start and that has led to some exciting days at Coca Cola Park.  The following grades are simply my opinion, of the performance thus far this year of players currently on the Lehigh Valley roster. Continue reading Iron Pigs Mid Season Report Card →

Threshers Stars Shine in FSL All-Star Game

02. Org Reports, 5. Clearwater

2008 FSL All-Star Logo

All-Star Weekend in Brevard County was good for all four of the Threshers stars who played in the game and for the Threshers’ coaching staff who coached the Western Division All-Stars to a 9-3 win over the Eastern All-Star squad. All three of the Threshers’ pitchers held the East squad scoreless in their work on the hill while Gus Milner accounted for two West division runs in the game.
Edgar Garcia – RHP pitched the second inning for the West giving up no hits and striking out one batter. The effort was good enough to earn him the pitcher-of-the-game award for the winning West team.
Brett Harker – RHP threw the sixth inning giving up no runs on two hits with two punch outs, and Matt German – LHP got in 0.2 innings of work with the final out in the seventh inning and the first out of the eighth giving up no runs on two hits with a strikeout. As mentioned “Gus” Milner – OF scored twice in the game going 1-4 plus a walk.

I’ve got a bunch of good photos that I will be uploading over the course of the night on Sunday, so check out the “Photo Gallery” link at my website. As soon as the pictures are prepped and uploaded they will be available there.

Iron Pigs Report

7. Lehigh Valley

Lehigh Valley is now 25-44, in last place and 16.0 games back of front running Scranton in the Northern Division of the International League. The passed week was another decent one for Lehigh Valley as they went 4-3 on the week. Mike Cervenak continues among league leaders in several categories including at bats (5th-249), runs (6th-43), hits [1st-78] and avg. (10th-.313). Andy Tracy is 3rd in the league in walks (36). Pitching leaders include Brian Mazone who is 4th in wins(7), 9th in ERA (2.93), leading the league in innings (92.0), and 4th in WHIP (1.04). JA Happ is 5th in innings (82.0) and leading the league in strikeouts (87). Matt Childers is 5th in the league with 8 saves. The long ball continues to be an issue for Happ as he is 7th in the league in homers allowed with 11. Continue reading Iron Pigs Report →

Do we have any “untouchable” prospects?

Other Stuff

As you may know, I try to keep this site geared towards prospects and resist the temptation to complain about the big league club (or praise them, for that matter), and try to stick to just talking about minor league action/the draft and stuff like that. But this is a very relevant topic, and it broke out in the Clearwater Report, so I figured I’d give it its own service here. Everyone seems to have an opinion on this, so here is your chance to weigh in. Depending on how the Phillies play over the next 6 weeks, they could be looking to make a trade for a starting pitcher, though right now the rotation looks solid. So that begs the question, who would you trade and who would you not trade in our current minor league setup, and for who would you trade them? Let’s take a look at our most tradeable assets.

Continue reading Do we have any “untouchable” prospects? →