Lakewood BlueClaws Weekly Report (4/21-4/27)

4. Lakewood

And your current 2009 SAL North Division Leaders…the Lakewood BlueClaws.

Wow, what a week. The BlueClaws won five and only lost one on the backs of tremendous starting pitching performances from promising prospects Jason Knapp, Tyler Cloyd and Jon Velasquez. After swapping games with the Lake County Captains in a rain-shortened two-game series, the ‘Claws swept the Hagerstown Suns in a home series and won the first game of a series at Delmarva.

Tuesday, April 21

Lake County 2
Lakewood 0
W: S. Smith (1-1); L: Ryan Bergh (0-1)

Tying a Lakewood BlueClaws record for most strikeouts in a game with fourteen, Jason Knapp firmly established himself as one of the Phillies top prospects with his performance. The offense, on the other hand, let Knapp down, turning what should have been an easy win for Knapp into a loss for reliever Ryan Bergh.

Without hyperbole, Knapp was simply incredible in the game. Brandishing his usual mid-to-high 90’s heater, he pitched seven innings of one-hit ball, striking out seven and only walking one in possibly the most dominant appearance by any Phillies prospect thus far in the season. Bergh, who has been alternating very good relief and iffy appearances, pitched two innings and allowed his first two runs of the season. Both runs came in the 9th inning.

The Lakewood offense took the night off, apparently. Through all nine innings, all the BlueClaws mustered were three baserunners, all on hits. No one player had more than three hits, but Harold Garcia, Anthony Gose, and Sebastian Valle kept the game from being a no-hitter for Mahalic and Co.

Wednesday, April 22
Lakewood 6
Lake C0unty 5
W: Robert Roth (1-0); L: T. House (0-1); SV: B.J. Rosenberg (1)

Robert Roth pitched a decent game en route to the BlueClaws series-tying 6-5 win. Roth went six innings, striking out three batters and letting up three runs on five hits and three walks. Justin De Fratus pitched a dominant inning of relief work, striking out the side in his only inning, and B.J. Rosenberg notched his first save of the year in two innings of relief work, although he let up two runs (one earned).

Lakewood broke out for four runs in the bottom of the 3rd, scoring those runs on an Anthony Gose triple, a double off the bat of Travis D’Arnaud, and four walks. D’Arnaud (3-4, R, 4 RBI) would end up winning the game by bringing in two more runs on a 7th inning double.

Thursday, April 23

Lakewood 6
Hagerstown 2
W: Jesus Sanchez (1-1); L: J. McGeary (0-1)

After letting up six runs in his first 5.2 innings, Jesus Sanchez finally pieced together a very nice start, as Lakewood took the first game of its series at home against Hagerstown. Sanchez had pitched a shutout through five innings, striking out nine and allowing five hits and two walks. Sanchez also picked off a runner at first base. Walter Tejada and Jacob Diekman (in his first appearance as a reliever) each let up a run in their three combined innings. Santos Hernandez took the mound in the 9th inning and promptly struck out the side.

Lakewood scored first with a three-run 5th inning, two runs scored standing up on a D’Arby Myers single with another run scoring on the throw, which was cut off by the first baseman, who threw to the second baseman, who tug Myers out to end the inning. The BlueClaws scored two more runs the following inning on a double by Gose and a wild pitch.

Anthony Gose (3-4, 2 2B, 2 R, RBI, SB) had a big game, as did Jim Murphy (2-4, R, RBI).

Friday, April 24

Lakewood 6
Hagerstown 0
W: Jonathan Velasquez (4-0); L: T. Engles (0-1)

Jon Velasquez got his first professional start and made it count, notching his SALLY-leading fourth win of the season on five innings of shutout ball. He only gave up two hits and a walk while striking out four. Justin DeFratus came in and continued his outstanding bullpen work, going three innings with a hit and five strikeouts. Esmelvin Jimenez nailed down the shutout in the ninth, striking out the final batter.

Harold Garcia started out the bottom of the first and scored on a Travis D’Arnaud double. D’Arnaud would score on a single by fellow catcher Sebastian Valle, giving the BlueClaws a 2-0 lead through one inning. Garcia led off a three-run 5th in the same fashion, netting his second triple of the game. After Gose grounded out, D’Arnaud added to the lead with two-run homerun to left field. Jesus Villegas Andino, filling in at third for an injured Travis Mattair (hamstring), added two more runs with singles in the 5th and 7th.

D’Arnaud (2-3, HBP, 3 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI) and Garcia (3-5, 2 R, 2 3B) had huge games for the BlueClaws. Andino (3-4, 2 RBI) and Zach Collier (2-4, R, SB) also had notable performances.

Saturday, April 25

Lakewood 1
Hagerstown 0
W: Ryan Bergh (1-1); L: O. Rodriguez (0-1)

Not to be upstaged by Jason Knapp, Lakewood’s other ace, Tyler Cloyd, threw his own seven strong shutout innings. Unfortunately, the offense was too busy watching another great performance by their pitching staff to actually put something up on the board during Cloyd’s stint. By the time they did score their lone run, it ended up being a walkoff, redeeming Ryan Bergh for losing Knapp’s start on Tuesday.

Cloyd, was almost as dominant as Knapp, only allowing four hits in his seven innings, striking out nine. Bergh pitched two perfect innings to close out the game, striking two out.

Offensively, the BlueClaws did little until the 9th inning, when a walkoff single by Jeremy Hamilton scored Troy Hanzawa. Zach Collier and Jesus Villegas Andino were the only Phillies to hit more than once, each player hitting twice.

Monday, April 27

Lakewood 4
Delmarva 1
W: Jason Knapp (1-2); L: O. Drake (1-1); SV: B.J. Rosenberg (2)

For an encore to his 14-strikeout performance, Jason Knapp did one of the few things he hadn’t thus far in the season – he actually won a game. It’s a testament to the run support that he’s been getting that a pitcher with a 1.85 ERA and a 0.75 WHIP is only 1-2.

Knapp pitched six innings, allowing just the one run on three hits (one a solo HR) and a walk, while striking out seven. Walter Tejada relieved Knapp in the 7th and pitched two perfect innings, striking out two batters. B.J Rosenberg earned the save with a scoreless inning, though he did make things interesting, allowing a hit to two of the first three batters.

Anthony Gose went 2-3 with an RBI; he also reached base due to catcher interference. Travis Mattair had a hit and two RBIs in his first game back from a hamstring injury which had held him out since April 22.

Prospects of the Week

Each week, I’ll select five players, made up of any combination of pitchers and position players as the “Prospects of the week”, based on their performances throughout the week.

1. Jason Knapp, SP

No question about it. Thirteen innings pitched, one win, twenty-one strikeouts and only one run, four hits and two walks. That’s a 0.69 WHIP (including three HBP), 0.69 ERA and 21:2 K:BB ratio.  Wow.

2. Tyler Cloyd, SP

Cloyd pitched a great game of his own on Saturday. Maybe the best thing he’s shown so far is an ability as a ground-ball pitcher, sporting a 2.36 Go/AO ratio through four starts.

3. Jonathan Velasquez, SP/RP

In his first professional, Velasquez pitched the first five innings of a shutout. Has only allowed one walk in 14.2 innings (12:1 K:BB ratio). Nice for an undrafted player

4. Anthony Gose, OF

Gose hit .333 (7-21) for the week, with two doubles, a triple and three steals. Gose has yet to display any kind of patience, however, with just two walks in sixteen games (none this week). Gose also struck out five times this week, bringing his total to 15 in 16 games. I hate to judge a player this early, but is he the second coming of Greg Golson?

5. Justin DeFratus, RP

DeFratus pitched four innings of relief work this week, allowing only one run while striking out eight.

Runners-Up

– HaroldGarcia, 2B – Hit 6-15 for the week with two triples and three runs.

– Zach Collier, OF – Broke out of his slump a bit, hitting 5-18 with an RBI and two steal.

– Jesus Villegas-Andino, IF – Played the most he has in any week so far and hit 6-16 with a run and an RBI. Otherwise, though, the statsheet was empty

League Leaders

– Jim Murphy is 10th in the SAL with a .354 batting average and 10th (.912) in OPS

– Travis Mattair (.484) and Jim Murphy (.475) are 1st and 2nd, respectively, in the SAL in OBP

– Travis D’Arnaud is 5th in the league in RBIs with 15

– Mattair leads the league in walks with 18

– Anthony Gose (11) leads the league while Zach Collier (6) is T-5th in steals (Gose is also tied for the lead in CS with 4)

– Anthony Gose is T-7th in runs with 12

– Jason Knapp (24.1) and Tyler Cloyd (24) are 1st and T-2nd, respectively, in the SAL in Innings Pitched

– Jason Knapp is 1st in the SAL with 37 strikeouts while Tyler Cloyd is 4th with 23

– Cloyd is one of four pitchers who have pitched a complete game

– Jonathan Velasquez is tied for the SAL lead in wins with 4

– Jason Knapp (0.74) is 3rd and Jon Velasquez (0.89) is 12th in WHIP

– Justin DeFratus is the pitcher who has pitched the most innings (12) without giving up a walk

——–

A little bonus, as some people were asking about Jonathan Velasquez. Comcast’s On The Pharm included a mini-profile of Velasquez, and I thought I’d add them here

“Velasquez, who hails from the Bronx, signed with the Phils last season

after going through a tryout camp. He was not drafted. He told Asbury

Park Press that he had gotten no leads after four tryouts and was on

the verge of packing it in when he auditioned for Atlantic League

scouts in January. The Phils and Red Sox saw something in him but it

was Philadelphia that offered him a deal and the rest has been obvious.

He’s been one of the more pleasant surprises in the minors this year. ” – Kevin Czerwinski

34 thoughts on “Lakewood BlueClaws Weekly Report (4/21-4/27)”

  2. The pitching here is beyond my wildest dreams. 10 runs given up all week. 5 runs in 1 game and they won it. I’m sure some of this is the pitchers are ahead of the hitters right now but this is dominant.

    I’m wondering about Villegas Andino. When we were slotting guys for levels earlier this year, I thought he’d be in Reading. He had a solid season at Clearwater last year. He’s now batting .441 with a 1+ OPS. He hits lefties and righties equally well. He walks more than he strikes out. His fielding stats are fine. What’s he doing in low A? He’s only played in 10 of the 16 games. He plays almost anywhere but 1st in the infield. Is it just a numbers game or does he appear far better on paper than in reality? Freddy G. & Fidel H. are at Clearwater but there are no prospects in Reading (unless you include Harman). Switch Harman with him or move Freddy or Fidel up and move Villegas Andino up to CLW.

    I haven’t seen him so I can’t determine.

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  3. Who’s Hector Garcia? Every roster I’ve seen says Harold Garcia. And in this taking issue with the lack of walks by Gose, I see no mention of Strike Outs, So, for now, it will likely be of importance among the denizens of the internet. Some are more interested in hits, runs, stolen bases, batting average, on base percentage, things like that.

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  4. Thank you for the pickup, Marfis, I was half asleep when I wrote Hector.

    Strikeouts for Gose now noted. BTW, you actually need walks to gather up a decent on-base percentage, so for those of us who do take that into consideration, he’s at .301…yeah, that’s fantastic. He’s also batting .261 on the season, but you’re right, I’m putting WAY too much stock into the fact that he’s a free-swinger who never takes a walk.

    Gose also has only a successful stolen base percentage of 71%. Want more info, or does that satisfy you?

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  5. The pitcher last night for Delmarva was from the navy academy ,Last week we were trying to see why Bolt was serving his time, wonder how this kid at 21 is now playing,

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  6. Bellman Says:
    April 28, 2009 at 5:36 am
    The pitching here is beyond my wildest dreams. 10 runs given up all week. 5 runs in 1 game and they won it. I’m sure some of this is the pitchers are ahead of the hitters right now but this is dominant.

    I’m wondering about Villegas Andino. When we were slotting guys for levels earlier this year, I thought he’d be in Reading. He had a solid season at Clearwater last year. He’s now batting .441 with a 1+ OPS. He hits lefties and righties equally well. He walks more than he strikes out. His fielding stats are fine. What’s he doing in low A? He’s only played in 10 of the 16 games. He plays almost anywhere but 1st in the infield. Is it just a numbers game or does he appear far better on paper than in reality? ”

    He’s doing well now, but his career track has defined him as a minor league utility guy. And while it wasn’t a bad year in clearwater, it wasn’t a good year either. He’s 22 now, but, if he hits, give him some playing time- they seem to really like fidel as a glove man, but its pretty clear he’s not going anywhere career wise. otherwise, its pretty easy to temper enthusiasm for a late round CC second baseman.

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  7. The Golson=Gose comparison is way way too early. For one, Gose is only 18 in the Sally league. Golson didn’t get out of the Sally league till he was 20.

    Lets give him a few months before we insult him like that.

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  8. It is early to say that he’s definitely going to be a similar player, that I’ll agree. But I’m not saying that – I’m just saying that there are the warning signs there that it’s a possibility.

    If he can add power as he fills out his frame, it will even out the strikeouts a bit, but you just hope he can learn to take a walk.

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  9. D. Romano. I get where you are coming from re: the Golson comparison. You aren’t saying he IS Golson, but Golson did start this way.

    That said, I too would be focused on the walks. Not “concerend” mind you as he’s a really young kid, but I’ve never read that this kid has much in the way of power – just freakish speed (and a freakish arm to boot). So I am with you, if that’s your make-up it’s all about getting on base – and that means walks. But as mentioned by a few, we’re talking a really small sampling size right now and he’s fun to check in on.

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  10. If he stays in CF he doesn’t need to have HUGE power…just respectable power with his great speed and defense. He’s a work in progress and we should be happy he’s 18 in the Sally League.

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  11. By the way, quick update/question on what I wrote about Gose. It was mentioned he’s got 4 CS’s so something he can, and I’m sure he’ll have no choice, work on.

    But my question is, when I look at the box scores each day, across all the Phil’s minor league levels, there seems to me to be a ton of CS, and then right below that PO’s (picked off). Is it me, and maybe it’s youth, but there seems to be a lot of folks picked off. Am I reading the box score right? Again, this may just be a youth thing that they haven’t really learned the craft of stealing a base yet.

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  12. another fine game by Knapp three hit one infield. As far as i see he only pitched to four batters out of the stretch
    seems like the only question HOW special he is.

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  14. … and the question that the Phils Front Office is probably asking themselves is “what do we do with this kid?”

    As Nowheels has stated (numerous times) over the past few weeks, he is dominating at Lakewood. But there are concerns about rushing him, his health, his mechanics (even if he has straightened out the kinks in his delivery, he still probably needs to work on it a bit more).

    Factoring in all these things, I think he will move up to Clearwater – probably around the All-Star Break. I just wonder what kind of limits have been set on his innings. Does anyone know how many innings he pitched in High School last year? If we assume it’s around 50 and add in the 27 he threw in the GCL, they may want to cap him around 100IP this year.

    Whatever the case may be, Knapp (and a bunch of other pitchers, for that matter) has certainly generated a lot of excitement around here. I’m almost beginning to wonder if the #12 ranking of the Phils farm system was a bit low.

    – Jeff

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  15. With Carrasco, Drabek and Knapp we have some top level pitching prospects. With the major league staff struggling the question becomes whether some of those prospects will be packaged for a frontline starter. I’m thinking specifically of Roy Oswalt. I wouldn’t give up Drabek, but I’d package, say, Carrasco, Happ and Savery for Oswalt, who’s signed up for three years after this season and a not totally outrageous figure. Especially when compared to Jake Peavy.

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  16. New order of pitching prospects?
    Knapp
    Drabek
    Carrasco
    (first 3 in any order you like)
    Stutes
    Worley
    Savery
    Bastardo
    Cloyd
    ?
    ?

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  17. “But my question is, when I look at the box scores each day, across all the Phil’s minor league levels, there seems to me to be a ton of CS, and then right below that PO’s (picked off). Is it me, and maybe it’s youth, but there seems to be a lot of folks picked off. Am I reading the box score right? Again, this may just be a youth thing that they haven’t really learned the craft of stealing a base yet.”

    That usually indicates that a player was caught stealing, and the pitcher threw him out by throwing over to first (or second) instead of throwing the pitch.

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  18. Why is it that I trully believe Savery is not a top prospect, maybe it because of the college he attended, Or how mad I was that the phillies passed on Rich Potello a jersey kid who is already i n the majors.

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  20. i think its a little too early to think about trading any of these kids plus oswalts back scares me. dd i agree with the exception of savery who having seen quite a bit imo will be a position player. by the way has anyone actually seen stutes and worley they sound great but i havent seen them and they seem to be the invisable men buried in the justifable hype of the other guys.

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  21. My only point about Knapp is how he will learn dominating
    pitching out of the stretch four times doesnt do it for me.
    If you held me down and tickled me I would ask who is the better pitching coach and manager, Lakewood or Clearwater.
    afterall you have to trust your diamonds to someone best
    of a mind to take care of them.
    Either way it probably matters more he stay healthy

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  23. I’ve seen Stutes at three levels. Doesn’t impress you with raw power pitching, but next thing you know you look at your scorecard and he has 7 K’s over 6 IP.

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  25. Congratulations to Jon Velasquez for picking up the win tonight and for going 5-0 in the month of April. He appears to be the only minor league pitcher to win 5 games in April. That’s an over the top projection for the 5 month minor league season.

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  28. Turns out Knapp is mortal after all. Mattair and Collier had good games. Looks like Collier has picked it up over the past 8 games.

    Pat the Bat, nice point on Brown, he’s been on fire of late. Filled up the box score tonight: 2/4, 2B, HR, RBI, SB, 2 BBs.

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  29. Time to move Brown to AA. Hitting .368 with 4 homers over the last 10 games at High A. Needs to be challenged!

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  30. “two bad wins don’t mean anything as far as being a good pitcher” – jpd

    If you’re talking about Velasquez (which I’m assuming since your post followed Rickey’s), then I have to disagree with you there. Velasquez notched three wins in strong relief efforts and his first start he went five scoreless innings, struck out four and only let up two hits. Sure his last start wasn’t anything to write home about, but neither was Knapp’s start tonight – these pitchers will have their ups and downs (just hopefully more ups)

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  31. I liked the fact that Knapp had to work a little.
    Collier seemed to get it going. sofarsogood

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  32. Don’t know if anyone else mentioned this but a Hector Correa sighting today in lakewood starting today for the first time since 2007 i believe

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  33. Why move Brown let him play longer at this level. In the last couple of days we have seen guys who we were saying should be moved. All because they had a couple of good starts or are after three weeks hitting at that level. Mattair, Myers, Galvis and others, there average have gone down. Stutes ,Knapp, Swimmer, Drabek all have been hit last time, so now lets see if they can hit or pitch for more than two or three weeks, before we crown them can’t miss and superstars, It’s great talk but wait until a guy masters a level for at least half a year or more. Now we are talking about a five and o pitcher from floida, northwood college, He should be left at that level for a while before we talk about him.

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