I had the opportunity to attend tonights ‘Pigs game and watch Carlos Carrasco in person. He had an impressive night. He went 6.2 innings and gave up 2 runs (none earned) on 6 hits. He didnt factir in the decision, in a game Lehigh Valley won 5-3. Carrasco walked 2 and struck out 4. He threw 102 pitches, 67 for strikes and certainly looked like he belonged and then some. His fastball was between 91–93 for most of the night, and he hit 94-95 with half a dozen pitches. His change was very impressive, causing numerous groundouts on a very busy night for 3B Joey Hammond. There were a few balls hit hard, but Carrasco kept his composure for the most part and worked out of trouble on a couple of occasions. This was only his first start and some growing pains are expected but from this initial report, he has the stuff to be very successful. As I literally almost ran into both Ruben Amaro, Jr. and Dave Montgomery, at the game, it seems as if Carrasco’s first start had everyone interested.
24 thoughts on “Carrasco Debut”
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Phuture Phillies 
nice.
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I’m really interested to go see Carrasco in allentown.
It’s nice to see Walrond get a shot too. I saw that 17K game and he was really dominating. For a little while there, it seemed like Jaramillo would be the only true prospect remaining… ugh! So this is great to see.
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The other good think about you going to the game was that you didn’t have to listen to Jon Miller and Joe Morgan for nine innings. They are brutal.
Who made all the errors? 3 unearned runs?
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Can Brandon Watson do a better job than So Taguchi? So had another weak at bat tonight. he is worthless.
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i dont know if he could do better than so but its worth mentioning, its really tough to sit on the bench the whole game and then come up and pinch hit in a tight situation, also they might as well keep happ in aaa if they aren’t going to pitch him, they cant let him rot in the bullpen, he needs some work, great start for carrasco today, i think it helped him that those batters never faced him before
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I have to admit that I am a fan of Watson. He is a good hitter, decent fielder and a super nice guy. He, however, is what he is….He is a slap hitter with little plate discipline. He consistently has a high batting average in AAA, however his OBP is low, especially for a leadoff hitter. He probably will hit about .250–260 in the majors if he got to play regularly and covers alot of ground in the OF. While not necessarily a fan of Taguchi, I do not think the Phils will make a change at this late juncture of the season, although I would think Watson would be a potentially valueable September callup.
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i don’t know how we so quickly got on the topic of brandon watson. this post is supposed to be about carrasco.
i am very encouraged, but not surprised at all. the jump from AA to AAA is not a huge one. but good to see him rise to the occasion. i like carrasco a lot, but it is probably too much to pull him up into a pennant race. i would be supportive of bringing him up at the start of next year as the #5.
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solid performance and can’t believe he’d be naive enough to not think that the ML brass would be in attendance?? I too would like to see him finish the year strong in AAA with no callup necessary and then fight for a spot in the spring. Who’dve thunk the ML club would have possibly a glut of SP coming into next year with Hamels, Kendrick, Blanton, Myers, Happ, Carrasco, Moyer (retired/pitching coach to be). At least we won’t have to hear AE’s name again. Those young kids (Kendrick, Hamels, Happ and Carrasco) can hold the fort while the Drabek’s, Savery’s Stutes, Worley’s etc develop.
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let’s see happ/carrasco perform before we worry about the glut of players 🙂
but i am excited too about their potential.
btw, conlin had an interesting article today on our lack of trades. basically said that our issue isn’t prospects, it is mlb ready prospects. that is what won the day on the big names. looking at the manny/bay trade, that is probably what lost that deal for us too. as well as the CC trade.
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PP Can’t say that on this blog. According to many they do a great job in drafting and development. right now if carrasco pitches well does myers get traded. Maybe he has value as closer to other teams.
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As much as I prefer seeing the kids get shots @ the MLB level, unless Moyer retires (I do not think he will, unless he struggles mightily for the rest of the season) or an off-season trade takes place, I do not see Carrasco coming North with the team at the end of next Spring’s camp, regardless of how well he pitches from now ’till then.
If Moyer does not retire and the Phil’s believe that both Happ & Carrasco are truly ready, the chances are better than even that we may see a trade before 2009’s opening day game; possibly, Kendrick or Blanton.
We may have the additional “good” problem of a healthy Mathieson (reliever?) and a potential wild card, if they decide to sign Benson again (doubtful but possible).
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PP,
ya and i was the one preaching common sense after one AAA start. Guess that went out the window.
As for Conlin I’ve always considered him somewhat of a blowhard. I would state that by not trading Donald, Marson, carrasco etc this year that at this point next year, if these guys are in AAA then they will be the equivalent of what was received in the CC trade or Harden trade. To me, its a matter of timing of the prospects. Ours just weren’t fully developed yet.
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Good for Carrasco…maybe the callup was the best thing to do with him mentally.
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****We may have the additional “good” problem of a healthy Mathieson (reliever?)****
The recovery rate for a 2nd TJ surgery is very very low…something on the order of 30% I believe.
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Conlin is incoherent as usual. He offers two contradicting hypotheses: one, that Gillick always depletes farm systems before he departs a GM job, leaving his former employers in bad shape, and two, that the Phils didn’t have enough major league-ready prospects to make any big trades last week. (I won’t even get into the absurd contention that rebuilding teams “need” young players who are “ready right now.”)
If Gillick really were a system-stripper, he wouldn’t have hesitated to deal Donald for Mahay, or Galvis for Guardado. And taking a step back, I’m pretty certain that the system today is in much better shape than it was two years ago.
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Mike, what do you do with Eaton. He’s signed for another year after this one. Release him?
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bellman,
I’d release him but knowing how the powers to be dread two things (wasting money and admitting mistakes) my bet is he stays as a long relief/mop up role next year. hopefully he doesn’t take a roster spot for someone who actually deserves it.
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There is no such thing as a ‘glut of starting pitching’.
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Daj, Conlin’s remarks are not contradictory. He is saying that Gillick was unable to pull off an impressive trade because the Phillies do not have major league ready players in the minors. If the Phillies had major league ready players then Gillick would not have hesitated to trade them to win now. I’m not sure if that is Gillicks typical approach but Conlin usually has a nugget of truth in his rants.
We do not know if the Royals only wanted Donald. From what I heard on DNL it sounded like teams wanted A LOT for their relievers. More than one prospect. I’m hoping that the age of the big time deals is over. The removal of roids from he game will shorten careers and put a greater emphasis on talent development.
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PPFan, I don’t know if the Phillies have room for another starter in the rotation. I am holding out hope that Kendrick can develop a plus change up to keep lefties off balance. If he does that then I think he’s a solid #3 to go along with Moyer as a 3-4. If Myers holds it together then he’s a #2-3 and Blanton is just Blanton. He’s a possible #2 or a #5. His stats vary from year to year.
Next in line is Happ then Carrasco? Maybe next year they trade Kendrick or Blanton. Philly will goes crazy if they move Kendrick. People love that kid.
I really do not get why they brought Blanton over. He’s looked good so far but it’ll create a major log jam if Moyer and Myers both stick around. Just my two over caffeinated cents.
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Logjams have a way of sorting themselves out , particularly with injuries a common occurrence.
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Agreed….you can never have too many starters.
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absolutely. but well all prefer a logam to trotting out old AE every 5 days.
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a big part of why teams asked for so much is lots of buyers few sellers. revenue sharing has created a sellers market with at least half of mlb teams thinking they’re in it at the break (astros??? bluejays???). therefore, basic supply and demand creates a market where even lefty bullpen guys are worth a top prospect. kudos to gillick for not taking that bait.
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