Kyle Drabek (3-0)threw eight shutout innings, giving up just four hits in the 4-0 Reading victory Friday night. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out five, lowering his AA ERA to 2.08.
On another topic, see below the fold for some comments by Steve Shrenk, Reading Pitching Coach on the recent performance of a few Reading pitchers: (Source: Reading Phillies.com Interview with Anthony Opperman)
On Mike Stutes–“He wasnt bad the other night, he had a good fastball, his off speed pitches were not there and he had to throw some fastballs in consequence of that in some counts that hurt him…a hanging fastball and a hanging slider really made the difference in the ball game for him. he has come a long ways and he is doing better, but 93 pitches in 5 innings is too many, that is something for us to keep working on and get better. I like to see that number around the seven inning mark. His change up hasnt been the best lately. His breaking ball is getting some swings and misses but it isnt where we want it.”
On Alex Concepcion–“ALex’s big strength has been his changeup. He is throwing it at any count he wants. He is a Ryan Madson type pitcher right now with the change up. He has been aggressive. It has been huge and he is throwing strikes. First pitch stikes are up, getting ahead of hitters is up. Its all good and works hand in hand and he is doing the things to get hitters out
On Pat Overholt–“We are working on something new with a new arm delivery but he made some strides the other night (5 strikeouts)…Its his third year here and he is learning some new mechanics…hopefully he will have success and be consistent with it”
Phuture Phillies 
As I said in my Twitter feed, I think Drabek is our best prospect at this point, all things considered. He’s been ridiculous this year, and the scouting reports back up the numbers. Our best pitching prospect since Hamels.
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I’m wary on pinning the #1 prospect tag on him right after an outing against Harrisburg, they are pretty weak. It depends on your opinion of him against Brown and/or Taylor, which just comes down to how you view hitters against pitchers.
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And understand that placing Brown #1 isn’t a knock on Drabek as much as it is complimentary of Brown.
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Its not just this start. He had a total of 170 IP below AA before being promoted, but he hasn’t really looked out of place at this level. He struggled a bit in his last start, but was awesome tonight, and the scouting reports so far match the statistics. Sitting 91-94 with a lot of movement and two quality secondary pitches. I put Brown right there with him, but all things considered, if I was making a Top 10 prospects list, I’d have Drabek #1
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Tony Zonca’s report:
In his fourth Double-A start, the right-handed Drabek allowed four hits, struck out five and did not walk a batter. The Senators put the leadoff man on base the second through fourth innings, but Drabek, throwing his fastball consistently between 92-95 mph, was able to pitch out of trouble each time.
He improved to 3-0 and lowered his ERA to 2.08 against a hot Senators club that had scored a total of 19 runs the last two games. He threw 96 pitches, 69 for strikes. Fourteen of his 24 outs were fly balls and he retired 15 of the last 16 batters he faced.
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What’s interesting about this game, Drabek seems to have gotten stronger as the game went on. In the two games I saw him pitch this year he started out dominating but lost command and focus as he went deeper into the games.
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I may have mispoke earlier.
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Updated Top Ten:
1. Drabek
2. Brown
3. Taylor
4. Carrasco
5. Knapp
6. Donald
7. Marson
8. Bastardo
9. Worley
10. D’Arnaud
Not a bad lookin top ten, with a ton of guys in the next twenty slots with a lot of potential to move up and contribute. Depending on how our draft picks play, definitely looking at a top ten system.
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Harrisburg has Reading’s number this year. Yes, I know they are lousy, but they give Reading a hard time every game. So I consider this good for Drabek.
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I’m one of the guys here who absolutely loves Michael Taylor as a prospect (not that there aren’t a lot of us), but pitching is the most important thing in baseball. That’s why I agree with James, that Drabek is our top prospect at this point. He’s got a real shot to be an ace, so even though he’s got quite a bit to prove still, I think he belongs at the top of the Phils’ prospect rankings.
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I’d hate to do some shameless self promotion, but I TOLD YOU SO!!!!
Direct quote from top 30 votes:
“Skunky Says:
November 24, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I’m going to rate mine purely on ceiling… so I’m going against the grain and saying Drabek.
Carrasco may be closer, but Kyle is far and away the best pitcher in our system…. and I can’t justifiably vote Carlos #1 if he isn’t even our best pitcher.”
____________________________________________
I was the first to vote Drabek number one… the first of THREE. So all you on the Drabek bandwagon, even you James, remember who’s driving it! BOO YA!
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Just remember that while Carrasco, Marson and Donald are sucking it up.
My Top 30:
Drabek
Brown
Taylor
Carrasco
…
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congratulations skunky, my top ten drabek, taylor, brown, worley, cloyd, carrasco ( as a reliever), marson, donald,( yes i know), knapp stutes.
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How many innings do you think they give Drabek this year? Because of his injury, the 30 inning rule doesn’t apply or he’d be shutdown now. He’s at 80 innings this year and we’re halfway through the season. They are also letting him pitch late into games (8 and 9 innings). Would 160 be too many? If, and this is a big if, they wanted to see Drabek in Philly this September would they slow him down in July and August? Personally, I’d just let him pitch where he’s at. I’m sure we’ll see him showing off in Spring Training next year.
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as ive said before the manager of clearwater,according to what ive read on the clearwater post seems to let his pitchers go all the way. if this is his policy he deserves a promotion. this 100 pitch count kills bullpens and weakens starters. this home streak ends tonite!
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Just checked out the rosters for Williamsport and the Gulf Coast team and was surprised at the lack of familiar names…for one, I couldn’t find Jared Cosart.
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The Gulf Coast League team is an offseason roster. The roster will most likely be up when they start play on Tuesday.
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I agree james, he definately has become our #1 prospect. the question is, with the phillies problems at SP, do they put him on the big club this year instead of Carrasco? I previously said that I think Drabek should spend the entire year in the minors and then have him compete for the a spot in the majors next year. But his recent showings and his consistency throughout this year may be changing minds.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Phillies call on Drabek at some point this season. They know they are a team built from their farm system, their recent history with Happ, Bastardo, Marson, Mayberry, even Kendrick to a degree, give them confidense to bring youngsters up sooner than they have in the past. Even seeing David Price in the WS and how effective he was in the playoffs could be a factor in the decisions our brass is going to be making this season.
How would it effect Carrasco to be jumped by both Bastardo and Drabek in the same year that he was listed as a top 3 prospect if not the top prospect in our organization?
I think Carrasco has evolved from our #1 prospect to our #1 trading chip.
What’s this weird feeling? Too many pitching prospects? I’m not sure but I think it feels good:)
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Bellman if I counted correctly Reading has 79 games left more than half not counting Payoffs. Seems like a long way to go especially since he is going deep into games.
Sure a tempting target for the bigs but since Bastardo pitched so well last night not likely. Who figured Drabek would come along THIS fast.
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Or in other words, in 2 or 3 years we’ve gone from a club who asked “do we have any pitchers we can call up” to one that asks “which one of these pitchers should we call up”
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Bellman if I counted correctly Reading has 79 games left more than half not counting Payoffs. Seems like a long way to go especially since he is going deep into games.
Sure a tempting target for the bigs but since Bastardo pitched so well last night not likely. Who figured Drabek would come along THIS fast.
Gregg Your comments about Overholt points out the improvement in Reading coaches this year from last.
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Is Bastardo still a Prospect by site rules and if so when not?
Is he still a topic of conversation here?
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Most publications consider the Rookie eligibility mark of 50 IP.
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I would think anybody who started the season in the minors remains a prospect for that entire year.
If they used an option on a guy, he is more likely to be moved again to save options on others.
Bastardo may be doing well now, but if we call up another SP without the move being injury related, Bastardo will be the one sent down.
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Phil
Last night was impressive one small correction by the pitching coach and he was almost unhittable. Mayberry missed
a catchable ball but one has to wonder why he wasnt getting
innings in LF when Raul was walking wounded and even before. Remarkable how baseball management avoids the obvious even when there is nothing to lose.
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I think that they will keep Drabek pitching full throttle at Reading until mid July and then ease up… just so he can establish himself. I doubt he’ll get called up, even when the rosters expand- there are just too many pitchers ahead of him on the depth chart. It might be interesting to see him in a Price-esque bullpen role, though.
But he’ll probably be given a legitimate opportunity to make the ML rotation out of spring training next year… which is AWESOME.
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Phil —
How quickly they forget. We were not thinking who can we call up 2-3 years ago. In May of 2006 we brought up this kid Hamels, who was every bit the prospect at the time that Drabek is today. In June of 2007, we brought up Kendrick, who went 10 – 4 the rest of the season, with a decent ERA. Last year Happ was brought back up. This year has not been uniquely successful in having minor league pitchers to bring up and do well.
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Wheels. I agree with that. Mayberry hasn’t done well at AAA but to me, the kid looks like he belongs in the majors as a 4th outfielder at least. I wasn’t big on the trade that brought him here but after that spring training he had I thought he’d break camp with the big club.
Loyalty is a tough thing. the only way you acquire it as a quality is when you show it when a better option exists.
Taguchi last year, Bruntlett this year. Park this year. Coste to a degree.
I think we’d be better off with Marson backing up Ruiz instead of Coste(despite lack of at bats for Marson). Same goes for Donald over Bruntlett. Mayberry and Stairs should be on the reserve outfielders.
Park over Happ to start the year only happened because the Phillies kept their word to Park.
I like that our Brass keeps their word, but I think they need to do a better job of understanding the timetable of our developing players.
example, I respect Moyer but 2 years was too much. It means we have to get rid of Myers after this year and closes the window on Carrasco.
In a perfect world, Moyer would retire after this season and become the bullpen coach for us.
I know this post was heavy on the major league team but it’s hard to talk about the top of the prospect list without relating it’s effect on the mlb team. Forgive me if I crossed the terms of the site… my perspective is on the organizational development as a whole.
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Allentown
In 1980 it was Marty Bystrom Phi MLB 5 0 1.50
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Allentown. True but I was thinking more about the time when we called kendrick up. noone expected his name.
I was talking more about the difference between having one name standing above the rest like Hamels and like now when we could make an argument for calling up any one of several pitchers.
Right now, legitimate arguments could be made for Andrew Carpenter, Joe Savery, Drabek, Carrasco, Drew Naylor. In 2006, that list was noticably shorter.
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Roffle comparing Drabek to Kendrick and Happ.
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Rulz You missed the point. It was about “Late Season Callups” So stop laughing at other people.
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Drabek is definitely #1 prospect. Completely untouchable in trade talks even for Halladay. Brown and Taylor at 2 and 3 followed by Carrasco and Worley. Knapp still a work in progress but already pitching at a higher level than expected and dominating at times. Watch out for Clearwater next year with half of Lakewood’s first half championship team moving up.
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No minor leaguer is off-limits for Halladay, the best pitcher in all of baseball.
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I’ll laugh when somebody invokes the name of Drabek/Hamels in relation to Happ/Kendrick.
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The IP question is a good one, since he does not have a base of IP from last year to work off of and still is not that far removed from major surgery. If I were the Phils, I would be extremely careful with his workload.
I agree with others who think that he might be switched to the bullpen at some point to limit his IP and if he has success there he will get called up to the majors when rosters expand. Let’s just hope he doesn’t fall in love with coming out of the pen.
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If Drabek comes up this year, I think it has to be as a reliever, and with fairly strict usage guidelines at that–no back-to-backs, maybe not even more than once every three games. This could allow for two-inning stints, though–essentially the role Park has now. And it would give him a taste of the majors in advance of a shot at the rotation next spring.
A rotation starting with Hamels, Drabek and Blanton, also including two of Myers/FA replacement, Moyer, Happ, Bastardo and Carrasco could be pretty solid.
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Drabek is gonna be a star one day…if he stays healthy. You trade any other pitcher in the system but him.
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on the phillies.com messageboard, there is a poster called diamondguru who, acoording to him, is a pro scout. From the time Drabek was drafted he said that Drabek’s small size and big moving fastball made him a perfect candidate to be a closer.
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dajafi
You mean like the rules that were set for Joba. Very smart.
You cant treat diamonds like carbon rocks.
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That poster Diamondguru seem very knowledgeable. I wonder if he posts here under another name. If he doesn’t, maybe we could get him over here.
His assessment is valid, but Kyle deserves a shot to start for an extended period of time. Smaller pitchers have success all of the time.
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Rulz
We’re not talking great careers. We’re talking guys you can call up for a few months, and whether from outright ability or once-around-the-league advantage, give you a very serviceable several months in the rotation. Both Kendrick and Happ did that for the Phillies. As, of course, did Hamels and as, I suspect, would Drabek if we brought him up tomorrow.
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I doubt Drabek could capably pitch in the majors this instant. Kendrick succeeded because though he did not miss bats, he consistently hit the strike zone. Drabek’s BB/9 in Reading is 4.2. That will not work in the bigs. He needs to refine yet.
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good point
maybe later
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Pettibone with a nice debut tonight.
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Good Pitching all around tonight with Carrasco going 7IP 1 ER and Savery picked up his 9th win 5 shutout innings and lowering his ERA to 3.24 after Lidge’s start.
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The fact that they managed to play that Williamsport game is a huge shock in itself.
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Hey Phuture You beat me to it Pettibone 5 innings 2 hits no runs 6 Ks Nice
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Its so great that we have this fresh influx of talent coming in late from last years draft or who were MIA last season…. Pettibone, Shreve, Cosart, Correa….. Its like finding five dollars in your pocket.
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On top of Pettitbone’s 6k’s he also had 9 groundball outs.
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Last year’s draft will go down as one of our best in a long time, and that’s with Hewitt being our first pick.
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Yeah they really loved Pettibone, they must trust their Cali scout big time. Bodes well going forward that we’ve seen solid picks from that area.
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The 2006 draft looks pretty damn good with Dominic Brown and Kyle Drabek, and Adrian Cardenas came out of that group as well.
I’m hard pressed to find a Phillies’ draft better than 1998. Pat Burrell, Jason Michaels, Ryan Madson, Geoff Geary and Nick Punto all in one draft.
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Gotta love the cardiac Claws. With today’s win in the bottom of the 12th from the continuation of last nights suspended game and down 4-2 they score three runs led by a Travis Mattair double. Six of 42 wins now have taken place in their last at bat. The second game should be interesting with Trevor May expected to start with Heitor Correa coming on in relief to get some work in the final game before the All Star break. Stong rotation with Cloyd, Knapp, Correa, Sanchez, and May. Not to mention the try out camp free agent Valesquez.
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So this is unrelated to Drabek, but I didn’t see if anyone commented on Flande’s complete game shutout the other night for Clearwater. Sure seems like he’s taken to the promotion well. I wonder, what with all the quality pitching around the system, how things will shake out when some of the new draft picks jump into the fray and guy’s start getting promoted to make room….. there’s certainly no room in Reading’s rotation.
Anyone have a scouting report on Flande? He’s just been on a tear this year for such a no named character.
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Kevin Goldstein mentioned that he has a legit plus change, along with a sneaky fastball that he commands well. Sounds kinda like a taller version of Bastardo with a better change and worse fastball.
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Thanks PB, I’ve been kind of curious about him for a while.
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The interesting thing is, that was the exact thing Goldstein said a year ago about Bastardo. Weak fastball, plus change up.
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anyone know when drabeks starting sgain? someone put him in the hamels class, i agree. maybe it was skunky who had it right so far. rickey b. have you seen him? i think its time to move flande, cloyd, and knapp. the 3 guys i see as making it are drabek, worley, and cloyd. its almost a shame we need a number 2 but to have to deal any of our big prospects is getting harder but it must be done to repeat.
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Hope to get to Reading Thursday night to see him, John. Really please to read about Drabek getting stronger as the game went on in his last start retiring the last 15 of 16 in a 96 pitch, 8 inning win. Saw him pitch in Tampa back around Memorial day where he had a 5 inning no-no going against the little Yanks until tiring in the 6th and his previous start in Reading where he dominated the first two innings before losing command and struggled the rest of the way.
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