June 18th Recap

Box Score Recap

A special Friday night update in honor of the beginning of Williamsport’s season

Williamsport wins 5-3.
Lakewood wins 4-2.
Clearwater wins 9-4.
Reading won 9-8.
Lehigh Valley lost 4-1.

Domingo Santana handled the demotion ok. 3/3, 2B, 2 HR. Not bad.

44 thoughts on “June 18th Recap”

  1. I think Santana just made a statement for those who were disappointed with his Lakewood performance. Granted, he has to keep it up, but a VERY promising first game out of the 17-year-old.

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  2. I was at the Reading game tonight, and by God was it exciting! How about Matt Rizzotti? Tagg Bozied comes up to lead off the bottom of the 9th inning down two runs with a single. Rizzotti comes up and battles his way to a 3-2 count. Pitcher releases the ball and Rizzotti drills it over the center field fence with a Laser Beam of a homerun!

    This kid has really been hitting and proving himself! I love to see guys who always had average years in the past have a good year when everything comes together for them. And thats what seems to be happening here for Rizzotti. Good for him! I’m a believer

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  3. I agree Charlie. Provided this continues, there’s no reason why Rizzotti shouldn’t be at AAA next year, when hopefully Andy Tracy retires. He’ll be 26 I believe at that time, which is a tad old, but not out of the realm of being called a prospect. It would be great to have a homegrown LH bat off the bench, and a legit 1B to give Howard a night off every now and then.

    Also, how about Galvis’s game ending triple! Exciting night in Reading, that’s for sure.

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  4. How about Pettibone’s night? 5 2/3, 1 H (a HR), 1 R, 2 Ks and 3 BBs. He retired the first 11 men he faced before giving up the HR. He might be getting back into the groove after his injury.

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  5. Matt
    I have been lobbing for lets say August for Riz. Partial to see him take on different pitching and partial because of the upward pressure from the other 1baggers. There is nothing to lose. Maybe a little exposure to Andy Tracy might help.

    The Santana train has left the station. All aboard

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  6. Williamsport- Got to repeat Santana- 3 for 3 with Double and 2 HR’s. Middle Infielders- Cesar Hernandez and Edgar Duran each with 2 Hits, maybe that’s the beginning of part of the answer why no HS MI’s drafted. Did not Kyrell Hudson in the box, as Miguel Alvarez started in CF (Michael Dabbs DH, Kelly Dugan in LF and Santana RF). Looks like they might have Chase Johnson as closer based on 1st game.

    Lakewood- speaking of Closer, I see they used Joshua Zeid in Middle Relief and Ebelin Lugo as closer.

    Reading- Bozied and Rizzotti both 3-3 with HR as 1B/DH combo, interesting to see what happens when they next play a NL Affiliate.

    Clearwater- looks like Kennelly still at 3B, after Catching for a game. Another 1B/DH combo Darin Ruf and James Murphy both hitting now with multiple hit games in this DH League, also D’Arby Myers hitting well lately.

    VSL-continued good batting from Williams Astudillo and Luis Martinez.

    DSL-Good pitching performance by starter and converted OF, Carlos Best-6IP- 8 K’s. Younger players Devi Francisco, OF, Yeisson Morales 3B, and Rafael DeLaCruz, C starting to get regular playing time with Francisco hitting well. Looks like one of last year’s starting pitchers, Daniel DeLaCruz is this season’s closer.

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  8. nowheels – I would have to agree with you. Provided Rizzotti continues to hit around .300, I don’t see any reason why they can’t send him up to AAA on 8/1.

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  9. I don’t understand where the power and production is coming from. In a similar number of ABs, Rizotti has way more RBIs (26/10) at Reading. His slugging percentage increased from .477 to .611. I know the FSL is a supposed pitchers league, but this is some jump in power and production.

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  10. Glad to see Rizzotti keeps mashing. If he keeeps it up, he could up his value as a trade piece. Could help the Phillies hold onto a more legitimate, position prospect, in a trade with an American league team.

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  11. Tom – I’m not sure how the FSL stadiums play, but in the dead of the summer, Reading really is a hitters park. Lots of 10-8 type games.

    Not saying this is the entire reason for the pickup, but I’m sure it’s playing a part. I’m sure being rejuvenated by the promotion helps as well. It must be pretty crushing to be 25 and in A.

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  12. Good to see Correa have a good outing. I expected more from him this season.
    Harold Garcia is becoming one of my personal 10 favorite to follow in the system. I would like to see him move up, so we can find out whether he is legitimate.

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  13. I don’t get why “experts” rag on the Phillies system. Are you telling me that If we called a team with a top of the rotation starter and offered a package of Singleton, Gose, Colvin and say Jiwan James…that team wouldn’t even listen? I’m not saying to do this, I’m just saying I don’t think the cubbard is bare. Agree/Disagree?

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  14. Rizzotti- since Rizzotti is in line to need protection from the Rule 5 draft, if they really wish to retain him, it would not hurt to add to the roster on September 1. Him and Tracy also, if need be. It is not likely he would break the bank in arbitration or Free Agency in the future.

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  16. Nice to see Santana hit last night(he still is only 17)…hopefully he has a good season and if Lakewood makes the playoffs he can be an extra bat. Garcia needs to get that call to Reading.

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  17. Haha I was actually talking to a buddy of mine the other day and I said I can’t wait to see Singleton and others in red pinstrips. I don’t want to trade him. I was just pointing out that it gets annoying when the Keith Laws of the world talk about how bad our system is now. Cosart might have a better arm then Drabek yet when we traded Kyle our the pitching in our system was now lost. gimme a break.

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  18. What’s up with our boy Schwim? Two piss poor outings in a row. I think we need to see another column.

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  19. Dan – I agree with you, with the standard qualifier of “let’s see what they can do in AA” before we fully sign off on these guys.

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  20. Cheese – He seems like a mentally tough kid, but you wonder if getting passed over for Stutes got him down a little. Also, maybe he’s experiencing a little bit of mid-season dead arm. Does anyone have any radar readings on him lately?

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  21. Rizzotti is slowly but surely working his way into Greg Dobbs-type prospecthood. Dobbs raked in minors like that too.

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  22. Rizzotti is 24 years old and will be 25 next season. That’s not too old for AAA. Rizzotti is on fire.

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  23. who was the former 3b braves prospect we signed in offseason…anyone remember who im talkin about…is he still in system…where?, thanks!

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  24. i was a the williamsport crosscutters game last night and was very impressed with domingo santana 1 of the homeruns were no doubters. 1 of the younger guys i cant think of his name but 1 of the guys reminds me of sebastian valle cuz theres a lot of moving parts in his swing.

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  27. Two thoughts:

    1. It freed up a spot on the 40 man for Sardinha

    2. Perhaps he’s gonna be traded?

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  28. Anyone know who Carlos best is? Had 8 Ks and no BBs in 6 innings in the dsl team. Don’t know anything about him but he’s 19 and that’s an interesting line…

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  29. Doubt the trade, looks like ruiz might miss a few games and they needed another catcher with the big club

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  31. Great to see Santana jump out in his first game. He’s in mid season form compared to some of these guys. I was at
    Lakewood game last night, my 1st time there. Pettibone looked pretty good and only made one bad pitch. He struggled a little with his control but for the most part threw his fastball and off speed stuff for strikes. Zeid threw the ball harder than I thought but wild pitched the tieing run in late in the game. Lugo closed instead of Ellis and he impressed me. Lugo has a real live arm. Defensively, James ran down a fly ball in deep center that he made look much easier than it was and Villar has a very strong arm, better than I expected. Singleton looked fine at 1B and Bushini had a good arm at 3rd. Valle throws the ball well as well. Offensively, Singleton had an 0fer but was robbed by the ss on a diving catch of a liner and hit the ball three times to the left side on outside pitches. He looks very good at the plate and takes pitches like Werth. He definitely moves well enough to play the OF if need be. James had several bad at bats but smoked a liner to left center to start the 8th in a tie game that he hustled into a head first double that just screamed “prospect”. Valle had two bad at bats but came back strong with two big hits, hitting the ball very hard both times. His bat “will play” as they say. The 2 good at bats were very good and his hit to knock in the go ahead runs late in a tie game as they fight to finish in first place was huge. As for Hewitt, I’ve always been a supporter and I met him in spring training last year and liked him but, I’m sad to say, he just doesn’t have baseball instincts. He struck out twice with off speed pitches bouncing (he wasn’t the only one) and after getting on when one of his bouncing 3rd strikes avoided the catcher, he got picked off 2nd when he left too soon after he was bunted over. That’s just bad baseball. He knew he screwed up and sat by himself in the dugout afterwards. It was a fun game and a terrific win for the young team fighting for 1st half title. Cosart today and Colvin tomorrow as the try to win out. Go Claws.

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  32. Rizzoti 3 run homer bottom of 1st, that’s 3 straight games with a homer and 2 back to back at bats

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  33. Harold Garcia now has hit in 23 straight games with a double and a homer so far tonight. Wonder how much longer the great minds of the minor league department will keep Harold at A+. At least they are letting Rizzotti play the field tonight for Reading. He hit his third homer in as many nights driving in 10 runs during that time. J.A Ramirez who they moved up is getting is getting hit hard in the 5th inning in his first start at AA.

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  34. What’s up with Overbeck’s glove he had an error tonight and I think he had 3 earlier this week (I know he had 2 in one game at least) he have these problems for the Threshers?

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  36. Harold Garcia is outclassing Single A. I hope they move him up to AA. Barnes is an experienced college player he should be able to handle Hi A. Garcia can’t be any worse than Chavez at AA.
    Garcia to Reading. Barnes to Clearwater. Lakewood has other options for 2nd base.

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  37. I agree about Garcia – no reason to have these “filler” guys blocking players with a legitimate chance to succeed at the next level. Ozzie Chavez really isn’t doing anyone any favors by starting every day with his .200 average.

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  38. i saw rizzotti’s homer tonight. it was at least a 450 foot shot that went over the pool. both rizzotti and bozied are just mashing the ball.

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  39. I was hoping Garcia would start in AA this year, but at this point there’s really no excuse for still having him in A ball. Reading should be a more appropriate challenge for him. Not much power, but a switch hitter who’s a threat on the bases is a valuable guy.

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  41. Southpaw – I saw it too and was amazed. It had to have landed on route 61 (I think that’s the name of the road). It might have even crossed the street.

    Brown hit a nice shot to dead center also tonight. Now that some of the dead weight is out of there (Pickney, Stavisky), they’re really turning into a very fun offensive club to watch. As other posters have mentioned, if they call up Garcia, really the only position where they don’t have a legitimate offensive threat is C.

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  42. Lakewood ends their season today (Sunday) and if they win they make the playoffs as 1st half champion. Then there is a 3 day All-Star break. Barnes will play in that All-Star Game and may go to AA afterwards, as that has been a practice to promote after All-Star games. Harold Garcia may be bounced up from that. He has also played some 3B lately. Overbeck, however, is hitting .105 in his brief time at Reading, so maybe you guys are bad luck and should stop campaigning for people.

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  43. Are you saying you think they are going to double jump Barnes to AA? Or did you mean bump to A ball?

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  44. Yeah, I meant Barnes to Clearwater and they bump up Garcia to AA, just to speculate what they might do, due to organizational needs, past history, player performance and all that.

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