Anthony Hewitt, 3B, Rookie-level GCL Phillies
Hewitt’s entry into the game was well-publicized; he was the best athlete in this year’s draft, a player that some scouts scored as a perfect 80 on raw power, speed, and arm. The only problem was that nobody really thought he was a very good baseball player yet. Nevertheless, the Phillies love athletes, so they took him with their first-round selection, and so far he’s exceeded expectations. After a two-hit game on Friday, Hewett went 4-for-7 with two doubles and his first professional home run in a Saturday doubleheader, raising his debut-season averages to .333/.385/.583. He also drew his first walk of the year (it took him ten games) and made a couple of errorless starts at third base, a ‘read and react’ position that might work better for him than those requiring game instincts.
32 thoughts on “Anthony Hewitt makes the Ten Pack”
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Phuture Phillies 
Anthony went 0-4 today with 2 ks but considering what I read about this kid, he already has passed this season’s expectations for this fan….I honestly thought he would go 4-50 or something like that….we all know he is a LONG ways away from seeing the Bank, but so far so good…..anybody know why Collier has not been in the line-up lately??? Also Valle had 2 doubles today after a very rough 8 game stretch, but he JUST turned 18….
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Also, just wanted to say that I LOVE this friggin site, found it around Spring Training 08 when someone posted the link on Phillies MLB site in the Prospect Thread(used to be a great thread, but has gone downhill)…..I have been following MILB.com Phils’ boxscores for past 3 years, and found that hardly anybody knew anything about the Phils players in the system, thus I had nobody I could talk to about what I was discovering….living here in Philly area being forced to listen to people discuss the farm system who have NO idea what they are talking about, it is great to get info from people who know what they are discussing….don’t/won’t post much since this added 1 more site I am on every day(and my wife already complains I’m on the computer WAAAAYYYYYY too much anyway) I just wanted to say THANK YOU for everybody who makes this site what it is, and hope that it keeps improving…..and finally, I have seen too many sites(not relating to baseball) drop off in value because of inner-site bickering….people just need to realize we all love the Phils, or we would not be here…..differing opinions are great, just realize that people can disagree on a topic, yet still agree that they want to see what is best for the franchise.
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I’m impressed with Hewitt thus far; even though he’s 19, he’s even more raw than many of the 17 and 18 year-olds playing in the GCL right now.
The thing I wonder when it comes to him is the K:BB ratio (which is one of the strongest indicators of ability to succeed at higher levels). There was a discussion on another thread about whether plate discipline is an innate ability or a skill to be developed; I tend to fall in the former category, but we can hope that Hewitt does improve in this area as he dedicates himself to baseball full-time. As for now, the power he’s flashed and (judging from the lack of errors thus far) the decent D he’s played at third base are both encouraging signs.
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When it comes to Hewitt, IMO just the ability to stay above water early on is enough for the Phils brass….as time goes by then things like K:BB rate is something to worry about IMO…with the reports that the guy went something like 0-for 2007 summer, what he is doing now is impressive.
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I think everyone would agree he’s exceeded expectations so far. I’m sure everyone would like to see more walks but with a .333 BA he’s probably hitting everything. Has anyone seen him play? Does he hit a lot of ‘hard’ outs? If he’s driving a lot of balls that land in the fielders’ gloves, wouldn’t that be a good thing since the question about him was always whether or not he could hit?
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Sell High!!
j/k
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RodeoJones: I haven’t seen him play, but I coming into today, he had a BABIP of .500 and a LD% of only 10%. Statistically speaking, that means he’s probably getting a bit lucky on the 55% of ground balls he’s hitting, but it’s such a ridiculously small sample size that we can’t actually draw any conclusions from it yet. Of course, the GCL season itself is often such a small sample size that we probably shouldn’t draw any conclusions one way (d’Arby Myers) or the other (Dominic Brown).
Obviously the good thing so far with Anthony is the 4 doubles, 1 triple, and 1 homer in 12 total hits — a tidy 50% XBH% in the early days.
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Is Hewitt a base-stealing threat? Will he be in the future?
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Obviously we can’t get too excited but this start is well above and beyond what I thought he would do. Congrats to him and hopefully he can come close to his ceiling of a potential 30/30 3rd baseman.
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Lekh, Hewitt should be a potential base-stealing threat based on his plus-plus speed. He will most likely have to have a lot of instruction on baserunning, as well as learning how to read pitchers. So yes, in the future he should be a base-stealing threat.
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Just heard that on daily news live.Amaro said its not true that happ was recalled. What is going on any info. out there.
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Rocky, not sure. According to Phillies forum, they believe a trade is brewing (no substantial rumors though…)
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Did not mean to have that emoction come up…
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*UPDATE*
Matthew Spencer goes for 15 hits in his first 35 at bats…..
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Rocky.. i guess its a bit off topic.. but the newest huge rumor is that Roy Halliday has popped up on the market and Gillick is making a huge play for him. Apparently its something like Happ, Marson, Donald, and Castro.
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I can’t get wrapped up in the K:BB ratio at this point. In the short-season rookie league I would think (guessing, never been there myself) that these kids are out to show what they can do in the little time they have in this league so I am sure the inclination is to swing away.
I’ve always loved the quip (yeah, I looked it up, it “quip” fits) “you don’t walk off the island” when referring to Dominican players lack of desire to take a walk. I think some of that holds true in this league as, other than stats geeks like us, most folks don’t look at walks, etc. And yes I know, it’s baseball men they are trying to impress as well, but ever notice that “patience” isn’t one of the “five tools”…
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DCWildCat, that would shut this site down!
Friar, thanks for the information. All the more reason to not get to excited, like you said, but it’s better then the alternative, us sitting here convincing ourselves his .120 BA isn’t the end of the world.
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Rodeo… tell me about it. I think half of the city would erupt. Then again there would still be those stupid fans who decide they hate the trade because Castro was gonna be the next Valenzuela
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For what it’s worth, I’d get behind that trade. But I think Toronto would laugh it off.
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it has been a small sample size for hewitt so far with only 40 at bats, I will be interested to see where he will be at when he gets to 100 or more at bats, but so far so good, also I haven’t been seeing anthony gose in the lineup for the last 2 weeks or so and havent heard anything about an injury, Is it possible that he is making the move to pitcher where many people think he will be far more successful
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Dominic Brown hasnt played for a little over a week and I haven’t seen an injury listed anyone know what’s up with him
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I know he injured his shoulder. dont have details though
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Dominic Brown has some shoulder soreness.
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PP, I didn’t realize Halladay was signed through 2010. You’re right, it would take more than what was postulated here to get that done. It would require Marson, Carrasco, Donald, Happ, Taylor, and Edgar Garcia, for starters…
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Halladay. Marson a top catching prospect,Donald, Happ, Myers and we eat some contract.
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I spread some of the Halladay rumors on some boards during the all-star break because I heard Jason Stark mention it. I wish I never did. I haven’t seen it anywhere else besides these boards. I don’t thnk even Gillick would risk his legacy on what Doc would cost the farm. The same applies to Burnett as well – he’s a rental – either he does well and walks next year or he gets hurt and we have to pay for the rest of his contract.
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I am more than a little impressed/surprised with the start of Hewitt. I know it is a small sample size, but everything I read on him I really expected him to fall on his face. Let’s hope he is building confidence and can continue to improve.
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I am anxious to see Hewitt play. Some natural athletes just find baseball somewhat easy even without concentrating their energies. Bo Jackson, Deon Sanders. Perhaps he has that same ability and won’t have the distractions.
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Well Guys and Gals, we’ve done it again. We start to talk up a prospect and he crashes to earth. Hewitt went 0 – 5 with 5 Ks last night. 0 – 9 and 7 Ks in 2 games. Jinxed ’em again.
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dont worry about anthony, i use to go to the cages with him in Brooklyn when he was about 14, 15. i was like 11 or 12 years old.
im currently 15 right now, anthonys a good ball player ill tell you that much, hes gonna work his way out of it.
if anything look out for my team we use to be the bonnies, the team that Anthony played on when he was in brooklyn.
were called the Sayo Grays..
_Tomas Mark.
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Look out for George Hewitt next. Bonnies 11 and under team now.
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As Anthony Hewitts centerfielder in highschool I can honestly say in all of my years all over the country playing a whole matter of sports i have never seen an athlete as well suited as Anthony Hewitt… He is the future
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