Today we resume our look at the Phillies affiliates with a stop in Clearwater. As with before, I’ll hit on the key position players and pitchers at the level, both good and bad, to try and get a handle on the best and most disappointing performances. If you’re just tuning in, here’s the progress we’ve made thus far;
GCL Phillies
Williamsport
Lakewood
So, here we go
Michael Taylor, OF — 266 PA — .329/.380/.560
Taylor, the story of the season among Phillies prospects, raked his way through Lakewood and then raked at Clearwater. Taylor’s .231 ISO was the highest at Clearwater, and his 46.6 extra base hit percentage also led the team by a fairly wide margin. As was the case at Lakewood, Taylor’s walk rate wasn’t quite what you’d want, at only 7.1%, but again the K rate wasn’t high enough to get really worried, only 17.3%, and obviously the power is there. His .305 SecA wasn’t quite as good as his mark in Lakewood, but is certainly fine. After a slow start while adjusting, Taylor showed he could handle High A.
Quintin Berry, OF — 590 PA — .272/.360/.341
Berry posted a season that I kind of expected him to post. He hit for a modest average, drew a decent share of walks (11.0%) and posted 37 net stolen bases. At 23, Berry was old for Clearwater, and in that light, his season would be considered a disappointment to me. His .268 SecA was good, driven by the walks and stolen bases, but his ISO of .069 is low, but was to be expected.
Gus Milner, OF — 549 PA — .261/.343/.372
Milner, 24, struggled at Clearwater, showing very little power and only slightly above average plate discipline. His ISO of .111 and SecA of .255 are not horrible in the abstract, but for a player 3 years older than the average prospect age, its really not good.
Notes: Adrian Cardenas was raking prior to the trade, to the tune of .307/.371/.441 but struggled after the trade, especially when pushed to AA. Matt Spencer, the other moderately interesting prospect at Clearwater, actually got a lot better after the trade, hitting .331/.374/.556 in the hitter friendly CAL league compared to the .251/.318/.368 line he put up at Clearwater. Clearwater was thin on interesting hitting prospects this season.
Edgar Garcia, RHP — 79.1 IP — 3.97 ERA — 3.37 DICE
Garcia, a polarizing prospect among “experts” but one of my favorites, had a nice half season at Clearwater before being called up to fill a rotation spot in Reading, where he remained for the rest of the season. Young for even A+, he was really young in AA, and his inexperience showed. At Clearwater, he continued to show his very good control, walking only 2.28/9, better than a league average rate of 3.81/9. He isn’t missing bats at a rate that indicates an ace, only 7.96/9, but he has always been young for his league. The reports on his raw stuff are good, low 90’s fastball, changeup, curve, but the big knock against him is his lack of consistency, both from start to start and sometimes even inning to inning. Garcia was only 20 this season, so time is obviously still on his side.
Joe Savery, LHP — 150.1 IP — 4.13 ERA — 3.56 DICE
Savery, one of the more divisive prospects on this site, had a real mixed bag season at Clearwater. Savery got off to a nice start with a 2.92 ERA in April, but was bombed in May, posting an ERA of 7.56 and then followed that with a 4.88 ERA in June. He finished the season strong however, posting ERA’s of 3.45 in July and 2.76 in August. His peripheral numbers were pedestrian as a whole, 7.32 K/9 and 3.60 BB/9, but his 0.60 HR/9 rate was fine. His ERA, if you remove May, was 3.47 for the season, which is much easier on the eye. Savery was inconsistent, he got absolutely bombed in a number of outings, but he wasn’t without his bright spots. First and foremost, he pitched 150 innings this season and remained healthy for the duration. He also generated 50% GB against 29% flyballs, a very nice margin.
Antonio Bastardo, LHP — 30.2 IP — 1.17 ERA — 1.84 DICE
Bastardo jumped onto the scene this year with a very good start at Clearwater prior to promotion. He struck out a ridiculous 14 batters per 9 innings pitched while walking just a shade under 3 hitters per 9. His stay in Clearwater was short, and at 22 years of age, it was nice to see him moved quickly when he showed that he wasn’t really being challenged. He came down with a labrum issue at Reading, which is a big concern, but his work at Clearwater was obviously off the charts.
Andrew Carpenter, RHP — 52.1 IP — 2.92 ERA — 2.85 DICE
Carpenter, who pitched well at Clearwater in 2007, found his way back here, though it wasn’t a place he probably hoped to be. After getting rocked at Reading, as well as dealing with some minor injuries, he found himself back in the FSL, and his numbers were much better than they were at Reading. Carpenter exhibited good control (1.55 BB/9), but he didn’t miss many bats, striking out only 5.5/9. I warned about Carpenter’s innings jump in 2007, and it manifested itself in arm tenderness this year. Its tough to judge his season because he wasn’t healthy, but he needs to have a big 2009 to get himself back into the big picture.
Drew Naylor, RHP — 78.0 IP — 4.85 ERA — 4.09 DICE
Naylor, who pitched well in Lakewood, struggled upon promotion to Clearwater. His peripherals were pedestrian, with a K rate below league average (6.81/9) and a walk rate of 3.58/9, slightly better than league average. He also allowed 8 HR in 78 IP, somewhat of a red flag, especially in a pitching friendly league. The reports on Naylor indicate average/above average stuff with good command and control, and he’s obviously going to have to make adjustments, which it appears he started to do near the end of the season.
Notes: Sam Walls, one of the more intriguing relief prospects in the system, posted a 0.81 ERA in 33.1 IP, but his DICE of 2.18 indicated some luck in that ERA, which was realized in Reading. Andrew Cruse posted a 3.59 ERA in 105.1 IP, walking only 2.91/9 but only striking out 6.25/9. Darren Byrd logged 99 innings, but struggled by all measures, striking out 4.9/9 and walking 3.9/9. Carlos Monasterios, arguably the last hope from the Abreu trade, posted mediocre peripherals, striking out 6.3/9 and walking 3.2/9.
Phuture Phillies 
Why do people think spencer got better after the trade. I think cardenas after the trade really needed to adust to the better pitching and didn’t get enough at bats to really make a good judgement on him. Wall was getting some people excited on this blog when he went up he got hammer wonder why?
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remember
Something is rotten in Reading. Carpenter under any circumstances should of been ready for at least a mediocre
AA. Only Happ has done well there 2hrs
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just thinking do you know if it was the same pitching coach there for floyd , gio and carpenter and carrasco. Maybe we are off base because it seems no one else is questioning the coaching staff.
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Obviously it was a terrible year in Clearwater. Taylor is the only position player with a chance to be a starter in the bigs and every pitcher flattened out when pushed up. All these soft tossers have to learn that pitching is all about location when you don’t throw 95. Carpenter is a good example of that although I still think he has a chance with a healthy arm to make it. I also think Bastardo, if healthy, can make it in the bullpen. I’m not a big Garcia guy, he has to show me more although I do like Savery. I’m hoping that Savery learned how to pitch this year and will be much better next year. He’s a great athlete and a terrific competitor but he has to get more guys out before he expects to make the bigs.
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I think it is silly to keep harping on the same old line, “something is rotten in reading.” Just this year alone, so many prospects made great strides playing at Reading. To name a few, just from this ’08 season, Marson, Donald, Golson, and Carrasco all performed much better than in seasons past. I do not understand how this makes Reading “rotten”. I don’t have time now, but if you still refuse to accept the fact that players have gone to Reading and succeeded, either through ignorance or stupidity, I will be more than willing to create a longer post on the subject later tonight, based on factual arguments rather than just the examples I am citing here. Of course, I could be wrong, and you could try and convince me with an argument more persuasive than silly catch phrases. Albeit, catch phrases that have some nice alliteration to make them zing.
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I think there was indeed a problem with the Reading management team. Reading hasn’t had a good season in the time that P J Forbes was manager. Some years the talent might have been a little light, but certainly not in 2008. On the plus side, Forbes is not coming back as manager, being named the roving baserunning instructor. I don’t know why the Phillies didn’t keep the successful core that won titles at Lakewood and Clearwater together with their manager for a 3rd season. It wasn’t as if Lehigh Valley had any young talent to nurture.
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Ever think that just maybe the reason that a number of players seem to struggle when they hit AA is because that is the biggest jump in the minors??
What evidence exists anywhere that there is a problem with the AA coaching staff? Instead of manufacturing some problem with the coaching staff, FO, etc. it is more logical to think that it is just a case of players who just aren’t good enough being exposed when they finally hit advanced competition.
Not every A-ball star will become a major league player and it is usually at the AA level where the pretenders get exposed.
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Any update on Joe Savery’s stuff?
I haven’t seen Savery pitch since the 2007 CWS. At that time, his labrum hadn’t fully healed, so his four-seamer lacked velocity and movement. The diminished velocity made his changeup less effective, and his breaking pitch looked flat and slurvey. Due to health concerns, I overlooked this mediocre performance on the mound, so I’d like an updated scouting report.
First of all; was Joe Savery completely healthy this season?Labrum injuries tend to linger, and Joe’s competitive nature might’ve caused him to rush his recovery and pitch through discomfort. In 2007, Savery was medically cleared to pitch, but clearly wasn’t the same pitcher he was before the injury. If the injury still bothered him in 2008, that would explain a lot: inconsistency, dips in velocity, occasional wildness, reluctance to throw a curve, etc.
Can anyone comment on the progression of Savery’s stuff? Were stats tied to anything specific, like velocity on his fastball, movement on his change or ability to throw his breaking pitch for strikes? Is his four seamer 94-95, like it was early in his college career, or 89-92 like after the injury?
Has he sharpened that breaking pitch? Is he striking batters out with his changeup, like he did in college?
Honestly, I think Savery might look completely different next season, another year removed from his surgery.
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Pitchers Gaz pitchers
How did the pitchers do at Reading?????
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The Reading pitching disappointed. Carpenter stank (as did Brummett, Durbin, Walls, Harker, and Overholt), Outman was good but disappointed when moved to pen, Bastardo was good then got hurt, Castro severely disappointed, and Carrasco was good, but not dominating. Garcia came up and looked bad, but that is not at all unexpected at his age. Swindle looked very good. Some of these guys like Carpenter, Harker, Overholt, Castro were guys we expected quite a bit from and Brummett had a lot of supporters as a prospect going into the season. Across the board, it looked like a very strong Reading roster going into the season. Carpenter, Castro, and Harman were likely the keys to dooming the season.
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Baxter raises some interesting questions re: Savery, and I’d be curious to see if anyone has anyone firsthand observations that would answer any of those questions.
Absent from the pitching discussion was LHP Matt German, and while I know he’s apparently a soft tosser, his numbers are worth mentioning: 58.2 IP, a 3.68 ERA and a 3.14 DICE (with a respectable 44.7% GB ratio). Much like R.J. Swindle, he’ll need to impress at higher levels for anyone to take him seriously, but the fact that lefties hit only .141 against him means there’s a chance he pans out as a LOOGY down the line.
While the lineup might be lacking a bit in prospects again next year (with maybe only Brown, Rizzotti, Durant, and possibly Susdorf worth monitoring), the 2009 Clearwater pitching should be interesting to watch. Naylor, Sampson, Worley, Stutes, and Cisco should probably start in the rotation, with guys like Chapman, Escalona, Sterner, Melendez, and maybe even McConnell in the bullpen. Onward and upward, Threshers…
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That rotation does look solid, with a couple guys maybe making a trip to Reading before the season is over (Stutes, Worley). Has anyone seen Savery? I read an article somewhere that says he was waaay down like 86-88 on his fastball, which leads me to believe he was hurt. Hopefully he comes back strong because he is a guy that could help us in 2010 and beyond if he becomes the pitcher we think he can be.
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You are right to say where is the facts. All I know is what we saw Carrasco was better at triple a. and what the white sox said about Gio Gonzalez he had to repeat double a because of the bad habits he pick up at reading, that is the only fact I know. and we are talking about pitching not hitters. didn’t carrasco show more at triple a then double or am i dreaming.
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Yes, Carrasco definitely did better at AAA. Reading is a hitters park, but still. I think there is ample reason that Forbes is now a roving instructor and we will see what other changes the Phillies make to the Reading coaching staff next season. They can’t be happy with how few games Reading won, after loading up the team with a lot of legit prospects. Yes, some guys like Donald and Marson did very well, and Golson and Carrasco did well, but you would still prefer they developed in a winning environment.
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Don’t write off Carlos Monasterios who turns just 23 in March. Last week he had a more successful debut starting for Bravos de Margarita in the VWL pitching a four inning, no run, two hitter than our much ballyhooed other Carlos had for Caracas in the same league. This Carlos had a 1.41 GO/FO ratio last year in High A and should be a starter for Reading in the cozy park there in 09.
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Forbes is a roving instructor where did u see that GOOD Info
and good news Forbes once bragged he pitchs guys 120 pitchs or more all the time.
Anything on Huppert I dont think he lost a pitcher at Clearwater Hopefully, you guys will get some talent next year/
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The report on PJ is in the Phillies column of the current issue of Baseball America. “PJ Forbes, most recently the manager of Double-A Reading, was named the organization’s roving baserunning and bunting coordinator”. I read it and cheered. The guy has not had a single good season in the Phillies system.
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OT, but…
I must say, with all great stuff going on at the MLB level, it is superb to that y’all haven’t indulged and gotten off topic.
It’s nice to read about the farm without the obvious distraction going on.
Keep up the good work. You are providing a great service. I know I wouldn’t be able to keep on topic, given the situation.
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QUINTIN BERRY
Obviously a desperate plea for attention 3 for 4 today
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