Reading reliever Mike Stutes, 23, was called up to AAA Lehigh Valley, taking the roster spot of Scott Mathieson who was called up to Philadelphia yesterday. Stutes has been effective in the mid to late innings for Reading going 3-0 with a 3.79 ERA and 2 saves in 25 games. In his 35.2 innings of work he has walked 21 and struck out 37. Opponents are hitting just .217 against him (1.92 with RISP). He will likely be placed in that same mid to late inning role in the Lehigh Valley bullpen.
STarter JC Ramirez was called up to Reading from Single A Clearwater. Ramirez, 21, is 4-3 with a 4.06 ERA in 11 starts for the Threshers this year. In his 64.2 innings he has given up 63 hits, walked 17 and struck out 55. Ramirez has a WHIP of 1.23 and the opposition is hitting .259 against him. Acquired in the Cliff Lee deal, Ramirez will immediately step into the Reading rotation.
Activated from the DL and assigned to CLearwater is starting pitcher Mike Cisco. Cisco, 23, has been on the DL since the end of April. I would imagine this to be a short-term stint in CLearwater, as he regains his arm strength. Cisco threw fairly well in his four Reading starts prior to going on the DL, and was 1-3 with a 3.68 ERA in those outings, with the opposition hitting just .220 against him.
Phuture Phillies 
Wow, Ramirez passing Aumont – whodathunkit. Next stop for Stutes…packaged in a deadline trade?
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Calling up a reliever of Stutes’ quality it could mean they expect Mathieson to stay in MLB for awhile, but I suppose there is some slack on the LVIP pitching roster.
So Ramirez goes up ahead of Jesus Sanchez and the in lull Hyatt . He should be able to stay there, given the only remotely considered prospects would be Naylor, Flande , and Worley. Josh Fogg or Ty Taubenheim will likely go to bullpen, and hopefully Cisco returns quickly (maybe they wanted him in that Florida heat) and they both can relieve.
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Is Stutes a hard thrower??
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I wonder if Schwimer didn’t have that bad outing recently that he would have been promoted instead of Stutes.
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I think of Stutes as a guy who throws a little harder than (92-94 MPH is what I’ve heard), and has an upside similar to or higher than, Chad Durbin, a guy who, in my view, is an incredibly useful and valuable player.
I am very interested to hear upcoming eyewitness reports on Ramirez. How hard does he throw? How good is his stuff? The promotion, however, does not surprise me – the team has been talking him up in newspaper articles for the last month or so, leading us to believe that the progress he had been making, was not fully reflected in his statistics. Now that the progress matches the statistics a promotion was in order.
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This is great for Mike but also great for Philly prospects. Jason Anderson could have been bumped back up to AAA but they’d be telling guys, piling up in AA and A+, your not ready for primetime (even AAA primetime). Ramirez is a good choice to go to AA. Let’s see how he does with the big jump. I assume he’ll get smacked around for a little while until he adjusts. Schwim deserved the move to AAA and I don’t think the bad outing was the reason for his passover. I think he’s the closer and they want him to close games. Zags is going to close in AAA because he could be the next guy promoted to the big club and he’ll get the added pressure of full tme closer in LHV.
I’m wondering if Cisco and Aumont will pitch consecutively while Cisco builds arm strength and Aumont tries to right the ship in CLW.
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Walking 21 in 35 inns does not make Stutes a decent reliever despite those 37 Ks and the .217 batting average against him.
Should he reduce those walks to 3 per 9 inns, then he’d be worthy. Hoping he can do that, but he is now not nearly ready to make further progress toward the big club.
Comparable to Hyatt?
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Nobody said he was close to being ready for the big club, I was just talking about his velocity and upside. Still, I disagree that he’s not making progress – he’s made great strides and is coming along fine – we all knew command was an issue. If he is promoted to the big club, I don’t see that happening for at least a year, he’s still got work to do.
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With Stutes, you also need to keep in mind this is his first year as a reliever. There is an adjustment to that and control would definitely be something that could be affected by the reduced workload of a reliever.
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Stutes has struggled with his control for a while – this is nothing new.
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I was also surprised it was Stutes called up, not Schwim. I hope the Phils don’t think Schwim has been sprinkled with “magic closer dust” and should only be used in the 9th inning. I’m hoping that, for some reason, their eyes told them Stutes was more ready for the challenge than Schwim.
Congrats to JC Ramirez! He has a FIP of 3.00 in the FSL, so that suggests he is ready. Hopefully his last start is more indicative of the results he’ll get in AA. He also needs to figure out a way to get lefties out. Good luck to him.
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Clearly the Phillies have made an effort to draft college pitchers with enough fastball to make for home-grow relievers over the last 3-4 years, following the very inefficient Ed Wade approach of a bullpen with no one under 35 years of age. I’m looking forward to seeing the results, and hopefully reaping the rewards. Mathieson doesn’t really count because he came up as a starter but had too fragile an arm., but I’m looking at Zags, Stutes, Schwimer, Rosenberg, De Fratus, Kissock, Wertz Ellis, etc. This drafts was stocked with more of the same (nesseth, Knigge, Buchanan, Fritchse, etc). Definitely a good way to save money around the edges, having a ready stream of middle relievers.
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I love homegrown relievers. Moving Stutes up is a bit aggressive considering it’s his first year as a reliever, but he has been pitching well lately so let’s see how he does.
I’m not sure I love calling up JC midseason. For me it would’ve been better to let him continue to improve in Clearwater and start next season fresh in Reading, then have him on pace for the majors in 2012 or ’13. Hopefully he responds well.
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Will – my thoughts exactly. The only odd thing about this is that the word has been that the team really likes experienced relievers (as do Manuel and Dubee). But even if they end up a trade bait, that’s fine too. Aside from potentially dominant closers, I lose very little sleep when we trade relief pitchers. I’m curious to see how this whole situation plays out because there is already a log jam.
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I am happy for Stutes
Another reason this is so promising is that our rotation at the big leagues is eating innings our relievers do not have to keeping them fresh.
So a guy like Mathieson will get work and not be asked to come in and be a savior
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Mathieson will only be in Philly until Happ is ready to come back in another few weeks. I expect Wertz and Way to be promoted to Clearwater next week and Cisco will only be in C Water for a start or two before going back to Reading. Hopefully, JC Ramirez will keep improving and shows he deserves to stay in AA.
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Stutes was 94-95, touched 96 on Wednesday.
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Who knows what any of this means but RHP Romero, DH Gugel, C Davalillo, OF Murakami, OF Solarte and OF Collier were all added to the Williamsport roster but listed as on the 7 Day DL. OF Gauntlett Eldemire no longer appears on the Williamsport roster in any fashion.
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i lik the homegrown relievers too…but who was last…the guy we traded to houston in lidge deal…sorry i forgot his name…i am really pulling for them cause its fun watchin from draft up thru system
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Collier was just announced as out for the season. Bummer!
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Ramirez was likely promoted since he is eating up time on the 40-man and they need to see what they have. He was repeating HighA ball anyway and was actually supposed to start at Reading this season. Not sure if he ‘earned’ a promotion but he did not prevent it with poor play.
Mathieson and Zagurski are also out of options so they need to make the roster next year.
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Sam Soap – You’re probably referring to Geoff Geary. A guy who definitely beat the odds.
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Whatever happened to Cowboy Clay Condrey – the poor man’s Geoff Geary.
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thanks matt…couldnt think of it…just could picture his amish like beard…i cant think of any other homegrown relievers in recent years…cause madson was a starter who couldnt cut it…he became good but was not groomed for pen…and im not counting mathieson…lol..zag got hurt and bisenius was supposed to be the man…just thinking!
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Condrey is on the Twins but has been sidelined with shoulder soreness. He may miss another two months.
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I need to see Stutes pitch for Lehigh Valley. I saw him in Williamsport, Lakewood and Reading so far. Going for the golden sombrero!
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Santana likes Williamsport. Has a 3.000 OPS through 2 ABS!
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“Santana likes Williamsport. Has a 3.000 OPS through 2 ABS!”
it’s now higher after 3 ABs. 2 HR and a 2b with 4 RBIs.
Not a bad start
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Hopefully Santana has a path like Valle did last year: Really young for Lakewood, but still gets a taste. Comes in hungry at Williamsport and takes care of business next year at Lakewood. He’s still REALLY young obviously. Hell, he could stay in Williamsport for the next 2 years and still be ahead of most guys.
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On Santana: take a look here. The org just wanted to keep him in pro games no matter how well he was going to do, just to give him “game experience.” (IMO)
Now that the NY-PA Lg has begun, he can take it from there.
No harm, no foul.
Interesting plan.
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Further, Valle is ‘on fire’…looks like there’s a bunch of hitters lurking in our farm system…mostly at the lower levels.
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Ruf is approaching .300 again. Baseball is so strange We are
“Firstbasemen-are -us”
Santana ..no worse the wear wouldn’t you say.
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Somebody on another thread said that Gauntlett Eldemire was going to have wrist surgery also and be back for instructional league, have not seen anywhere else.
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