John Mayberry, Jr. is not in tonights starting lineup, the first time this year he has not been in the lineup that I can recall. Pablo Ozuna is in the lineup, as is Miguel Cairo, who will be playing third base. As of late this afternoon, the Phillies had not yet announced a roster move and Mayberry was still in Allentown, at Coca Cola Park, but seems as if he may not be around long.
Monthly Archives: May 2009
Lehigh Valley Report
Lehigh Valley finally broke their long losing streak on Tuesday, but ended the week at 1-5, after another loss Thursday night. The ‘Pigs now stand at 15-24, in fifth place of the Northern Division of the International League, 11.5 games out of first.
5/18/09– Eight in a row in the loss column now for the ‘Pigs after their 4-3 loss to Gwinnett on Monday. The ‘Pigs jumped out early on Gwinnett with a two run double by Pablo Ozuna in the third inning, followed by an RBI single by Andy Tracy which gave Lehigh Valley the early 3-0 lead. Jake Woods got the spot start for Lehigh Valley and did his job, going four innings, giving up a lone run on three hits. He walked three and struck out one. Gwinnett scored two in the sixth and one more in the seventh off of JC Romero, who took the loss. Pablo Ozuna had a huge game for Lehigh Valley going 3-4, with a run, 2 doubles, 2 RBI’s, and a stolen base. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Report
Clearwater Report
It was a pretty quiet week in Clearwater this week. The team played only four games with Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights all getting rained out. In the four they did play they were 2-2 with back-to-back losses to the Cubs (7-4 & 7-2) followed by a win against the Cubs to save a series sweep winning 6-3. On Sunday in their first game of a three game set with the Flying Tigers the team won 9-8 with a ninth inning rally after blowing an early 5-0 lead. Then as mentioned the next three games were washed out with the two against the Flying Tigers being canceled and not to be made up. Continue reading Clearwater Report
2009 Draft quick hit
Since I’m not planning on doing a mock draft this year (I don’t think), my draft thoughts will come at random more than likely, and so get used to more of this quick posts for consideration. I’ve kind of come up with my initial thought on a guy the Phillies might target. Last week I wrote a quick post throwing 5 random names out there, based on Keith Law’s initial Top 100. Looking more at this list, one guy jumped out at me; Slade Heathcott, a prep outfielder from Texas. You can check out his bio/scouting report from milb.com right here. He ticks off a number of boxes; athletic, toolsy, from Texas (they place a lot of faith in the Texas area guy), and is lauded for his energy/work ethic on the field. He’s had a number of injuries, but looks to be recovered and none of them are long term concerns. This was the line that jumped out at me in his report
He’s an intense competitor who’s only question is about some character issues off the field. The team that gets those questions answered could be the one to take him on Draft Day.
I spoke to one of the people I know, who said that he wasn’t aware of any issues. So I don’t know where this came from. I’m sure Baseball America will have more on him, my PG Crosschecker account expired, so I don’t know where they have him ranked. But he’s a definite name to consider. I mentioned Matt Purke last time as a possible signability guy, and there’s another name to consider along those lines in Jacob Turner, a prep righthander from Missouri. You can read about Purke here, and Turner here.
Stay tuned…
Daily Discussion
In Andy Martino’s article today in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Charlie Manuel mentioned the possibility of a right handed bat being called up from AAA Lehigh Valley for the weekend series against the Yankees to DH. It seems right now, that John Mayberry is the leading candidate, with a darkhorse candidate being Pablo Ozuna who is coming off a 13 game hitting streak and hitting .298 thus far this year. Ozuna has very good speed and major league experience but is not on the 40 man roster. Mayberry is certainly more of the long ball threat, but his 40 strikeouts in 133 at bats or of concern.
Chance Chapman, who has been fantastic for Clearwater so far this year, going 3-1 with an ERA of 0.77 in 11 appearances was called up to Reading yesterday. Continue reading Daily Discussion
Reading Phillies Weekly Report (05/11 – 05/17)
Welcome to yet another edition of the Reading Phillies weekly report. Time constraints have limited the report this week to just the “prospect watch” section. It is probably for the best anyway, as the Phils went 2-5 on the week and now sit at 19-15 on the season, good for 3rd in the Eastern League. To the prospects…
Continue reading Reading Phillies Weekly Report (05/11 – 05/17)
Lehigh Valley Weekend Game Report, Lose 7th Straight and Cervenak
5/15/09–The ‘Pigs road trip mercifully ended on Friday, with a 8-5 loss to Columbus on Friday night. The game was over early, as starter Justin Lehr (5-2), who has been excellent thus far this year, was rocked allowing seven runs (including three homers) in five innings, as the CLippers took a 6-0 lead.. This was never much of a game, with the ‘Pigs losing their season high fifth straight, however, John Mayberry hit his 8th homer of the year, and Mayberry , Ozuna, and Donald all had two hits for Lehigh Valley.
5/16/09–The Lehigh Vallfey losing streak continued and now stands at six, after a 4-1 loss to Gwinnett in the ‘Pigs return home on Saturday. Kyle Kendrick (2-3)started and did not pitch well, going five innings and giving up four runs on four hits. He walked four, struck out four, hit two batters and gave up a homer. Braves prospect Tommy Hanson started for Gwinnett and the ‘Pigs simply could not figure him out as he pitched seven scoreless innings. The lone ‘Pig run came in the 8th after Pablo Ozuna scored on a Rich Thompson ground out. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekend Game Report, Lose 7th Straight and Cervenak
VSL Season Starts Monday – Initial Roster Posted
The Venezuelan Summer League starts Monday for the Phillies with an 11:30 AM game against the VSL Cardinals. The Phillies play a 70-game schedule running through early August, playing 5-6 games a week. The Phillies are one of 8 teams in the VSL (unlike the Dominican league where almost all major league organizations are represented.
The big news for the Phillies is that both of their high profile signings from last winter are on the VSL roster. Since GCL season does not stat for another month or so, there is still a chance that a couple of these players will end up in Florida. SS Nerio Rios is 17 years old and reported to be a plus defensive player with more offensive potential than Freddy Galvis. Bernardo Solarte is also 17 years old and is an OF, most likely the starting CF on the VSL squad. Solarte is a player in the mold of Leandro Castro with good speed along with power potential.
The one disappointing note is that there are no new pitchers listed under the age of 19. These early rosters are sometimes a work in progress, so other younger signees may show up later. Last year’s VSL staff was somewhat disappointing, so an influx of younger, projectible arms is needed. The youngest pitcher on the roster is 17-year-old Jorge Guzman who only pitched limited innings last summer as a 16-year-old. 4 of the 5 catchers on the roster are new signees with Hector Barrios being another signee from Panama. One interesting note is that OF Rudney Balentien (from Curacao) has been transferred to the VSL after 2 seasons in the DSL. We will follow up this initial post with periodic updates once play has started.
Continue reading VSL Season Starts Monday – Initial Roster Posted
What will the 2009 draft approach be?
The draft is less than a month away, and I suppose its time to start considering what the Phillies will do. As we all know, the Phillies do not have a first round pick, and this year the sandwich round contains 17 picks, meaning the Phillies first pick will not come until the 2nd round, #75 overall, with their second pick coming at #106. This takes some of the fun out of the draft buildup for me, since its tough to project the first 30 picks, let alone the first 80 picks. Its going to be impossible to peg one guy, or even a handful of guys. There are a number of teams (Yankees, Red Sox) who will take a guy with a large price tag that falls, so that is one potential road block. This year’s draft is very pitching heavy, there are very few impact bats available, even those that could fall to us in the 2nd round. Check below the fold for more…
Lehigh Valley Weekly Report
A rough road trip for Lehigh Valley which concludes tomorrow in Columbus, after a 2-5 week. The ‘Pigs stand at 14-19, in 5th place of the Northern Division of the International League, 9 games behind division leading Scranton. Continue reading Lehigh Valley Weekly Report
Phuture Phillies 