57 thoughts on “July 30 Discussion”

  1. Mario Hollands is really starting to string together some quality starts after a bad beginning. In his first 5 innings he gave up 8 earned runs. In his last 32 innings he has given up 5 earned runs. Over that last 32 innings his ERA is 1.41 with 32 SO against 8 BB’s.

    After an extremely slow start, the 2010 draft class has some guys that are starting to settle in and play much better.

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  2. Wow! How can we even talk about prospects on a day like this? but we must….

    Mayberry smacked a clutch HR in the 9th inning to push the LHV game to extra innings. He’s still trying too make some noise.

    Galvis went 3 -4 and has hit in 10 straight games (.325 over the stretch). He’s shown flashes but his consistency isn’t there yet. Next year is the critical year for him. I forgot to mention that Harold Garcia’s long on-base streak was broken a few games back. I think he went 55 or 56 games getting on base at least once. Flande had a stinko game.

    Edgar Garcia has been nothing short of sopectacluar since he was moved back into the rotation. The 22 year old has given up 2 ER in 18 2/3 over 4 starts with 17 Ks and 3 BBs. That’s a .96 ERA folks. Tim Kennelly is hitting .351 in his last 10 games. He’s taken a step backwards this year but he’s getting hot. Fidel Hernandez had been putrid over his last 6 games (2 / 25). Myers replaced Gose in CF. It will be interesting to see if the give Myers the full time job for the reainder of the season or they bring up Castro of possibly James. Castro can play CF and deserves the call up and pushing James would be aggressive.

    DeRenne played SS last night in place of Villar. 19 year old to 31 year old. Shreve had a lousy outing yesterday. He’s tiring a bit. He skated through the fist 3 innings giving up only a walk and then imploded. This is his 1st professional season after missing 2 years to TJ surgery so a bit of tired arm is expected.

    Mario Hollands hasn’t given up an ER in 16 innings spanning his last 3 starts and he’s given up only 4 hits including none/zip.nada yesterday. Watch out but Altherr has as many walks as Ks (3) since joining Wmsprt. Tiny sample but lack of BBs was a knock on him in the GCL. Kyrell Hudson’s BA is 20 points less than his weight and he’s not a hefty guy.

    Biddle gets the CG victory, albeit a 5 inning affair. 4 hits, 5 K and no BBs. I’m keeping my eye on Luis Unda, a 20 yr old from VZ. He’s hit in 6 straight (10/20). He was pretty horrendous before that but he must be getting comfortable. He showed some power in VSL last year with 16 doubles, 2 triples and 5 HRs. That’s pretty darn good for the VSL. He hasn’t shown the power yet in the States.

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  4. Biddle has some really good stats. 26/6 K/BB ratio this season and if you remove his 6 ER performance he has like a 1.89 era. Only like 22 innings so far but he’s impressed no doubt.

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  5. Lakewood signs Keoni Ruth, Hawaiian independent leaguer who has seen AAA, to play SS for Claws. He is a friend of Keoni Renne, who recommended him as a talented, high character guy.

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  6. I know it’s years away, and a lot could happen between now and then in terms of injuries, setbacks and trades, but imagine our rotation possibilites ina few years:

    Cosart
    Colvin
    May
    Biddle
    Ramirez/Worely/Way/Aumont/Hernandez/Hyatt – whoever is better

    Have we ever been this stacked with legit pitching prospects?

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  7. An interesting comment from Scott Proefrock on the radio pre-game show last night. Without any sort of prompting from Jim Jackson, he volunteered that the Phils felt comfortable dealing Villar because shortstop is a position of strength in the organization. That certanly flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Galvis is the only one he mentioned by name, but he said the team has interesting prospects in the GCL, DSL and VSL, too.

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  9. Interesting quotation from Proefrock. I wonder what he sees in the GCL/DSL/VSL specifically… they do interviews with him every Thursday no?

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  11. Matt Rizzotti has had an interesting week. In games Monday and Tuesday he hit in six straight at bats going 5 for 5 in Monday’s game. Then in the Wednesday and Thursday games he walked a combined seven times. Talk about pitching around! Guess that’s what happens when you are leading the league in hitting by 51 points. Matt really should be at the next level and Jim Tracy should take over the IronPigs hitting coach vacancy or DH for the rest of the season to open up first base for Rizzo.

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  12. Dennis H, don’t forget Julio Rodriguez (19 yr old in LW with a 2.31 ERA), Vance Worley, Jonathan Pettibone and Colby Shreve. PLUS high school signees from the ’09 draft in Colvin Kleven and Stephen Inch. Oh, and whomever we add from 2010 (Frazier? Walter? Musser? Gonzalez? Harvill? Hodgskin?)…

    The future is bright.

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  15. Sounds like May and Schwim should talk. It might help May with his mental approach since the two seem pretty like-minded. Good find, Greg.

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  16. Talk around the park yesterday was that May could be moved back up at any time.

    The Phillies have Shreve on a 5 inning limit right now…being cautious with his workload. He didn’t make it that far. Parent straight up said after the game that he got tired, mentioned the muggy conditions, as it stormed before the game. His fastball maxed out at 92 mph last night and if I remember correctly, I’ve seen him throw harder than that. Also effecting Shreve’s line last night was a blown grounder that should have been a routine 3-1 play…it was bobbled briefly by Singleton, then Shreve missed stepping on the bag once the ball was tossed his way. It was scored a hit, could have easily been an error…or an out!

    Singleton was happy to have survived the trade rumors.

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  18. Looks like Rizzotti is getting the Barry Bonds treatment. Stay strong, Matt.

    Jay Ballz, thanks for the first hand report! I hope you told Homerton that we are all just as happy.

    Biddle’s results have been interesting. His two worst starts, 7/8 against the Yankees and 7/14 against the Blue Jays, were his second time facing both those teams. Makes me wonder if hitters get comfortable against him quickly. We shall see.

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  20. BP, you’re probably reading too much into his third and fourth starts as a professional. I don’t think we can draw any conclusions based on his limited innings, other than it’s nice to see him do well.

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  23. stevemc: I think he might be avg to above avg. I think he won defensive player of year at his position in SAL. However, I have seen no reports that he is a “magician” or any such adjectives. So I’m thinking he is good and steady. Put that with his bat and we might have something good.

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  25. Dennis H: I am as excited as you are by these guys. However, we have had a few exciting pitching crops in the past. The group Madson came up with was one. A few others. Many of those guys did not progress well at AA/AAA. Some blew out their arms, like Brad Baisley, who all agreed could have been a solid #2/#3 i the rotation. Attrition is a rule of minor league life and we will be lucky to see 2-4 of these guys in Philly. I am hoping we beat the odds and bring up 5-8 of the or so.

    It’s like spinach. You buy a big bag, looks like enough to feed an army. Ever try to saute it? It cooks down to next to nothing, barely a side dish for 2 people. That’s kind of how exciting pitching crops melt away.

    But like you, I am rooting that we get a home-grown staff that we can keep together and extend the current success of the team for another 10 years after our big guys are gone.

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  26. BP: I think it’s more likely he is working on pitches or trying to hone his delivery and just having growing pains. The recent dominant outings are a good sign. We should be patient with him and just let these growing pains happen. There is SOOOO much we do not have access to about what happens with prospects, from their private lives to small injuries to trying to learn and change. We need to just look at their tools and projection and let the development play out.

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  27. Matt Rizzotti … I’m sure if you could go back and read my posts, people would call me a Matt Rizzotti basher. I’m not. I’ve repeatedly said that he just doesn’t hold much value as we don’t know if this is an outlier year. That being said, I’m sure glad we didn’t trade him. His continued roll is amazing. If he continues this all year and into next, I think we will have a much more valuable asset on our hands that we do today.

    It’s just my perspective, but it’s hard not to like what you see … just want to see more and glad he’s still on our side.

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  30. Phils should NOT move Rizzotti. He is hot and playing great. No reason to change any of that especially since I want his trade value as high as possible if needed. After this season they can decide where to put him.

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  32. DiamondDerby: no doubt, and I agree about taking the long view. It was just a mini-pattern that jumped out at me and I wondered out loud…

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  33. Rizzotti’s value HAS NOT peaked, as he really doesn’t have a lot of value right now. This is his first “big” year and he’s position limited. If he continues to rake into next year, the story could be very different. But right now, Keith Law and others are saying he has little to no trade value, and I agree. Our best way to get value from him is to keep him and hope he continues this success.

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  34. To further my example, Minnesota just gave up a pretty decent catching prospect, a premium position, for MATT CAPPS. Yes, the Matt Capps … the same Matt Capps that was non-tendered by the Pirates at the beginning of the year. If it takes this type of prospect to get a Matt Capps, i’m not sure Rizzotti brings anything more that a Danys Baez or David Herndon type … we have them.

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  35. got to see all 3 reading phils games in richmond this week and want to pass along a few observations. my only credentials for my opinions are that i am 72 and have watch a lot of baseball over the years.

    pitchers;
    ramirez looked strong in his start. he’s big and powerful and stuffed the squirrel hitters. richmond doesn’t have a radar gun( next year they say) so i can’t cite velocity, but he can bring it. he seems to be a laid back, fun loving personality. does a strange gazelle hop over the base line followed by a right toe drag on his way to the mount. must speak english because he was all over the dugout on the nights he didn’t pitch, talking to the anglos as well as the latino players. i think the richmond manager refused to continue (roadcap wanted to finish the game), after the lights in one tower went out, to get ramirez out of the game. the game was suspended and continued the next night. ok with me , i got a free ticket for the second game.
    i see ramirez as a middle of the rotation guy in 1-2 years.

    the other impressive pitcher was de fratus. threw the hardest of anybody i saw in the 3 games. future back end of the pen.

    chapman and espinosa both threw some strong innings in relieve. espinosa got hit in his third inning, but that is longer than he probably usually pitches.

    cisco and naylor were bombed in their starts.

    cisco is rather small in stature, but then again so is oswalt.

    naylor had a tantrum after throwing a wild pitch on which a run scored. while he was stomping back to the mount screaming expletives, another guy came home from third. fortunately the ump had thrown the game ball out and was fishing for a new one, so he sent the runner back. hope drew learns from this. dubee doesn’t like his pitchers to show their emotions on the mount.

    field players;

    harold garcia is not a big guy but very sturdy looking. hit the ball well the whole series, stole a base and handled himself well in the field although he didn’t have any tough plays. good future big league second baseman.
    freddy galvis is a plus plus fielder. made some nice plays. i believe he will hit in the bigs. he seems to have a nice swing and isn’t being overpowered. think he will mature to be a .240-.260 hitter and a plus fielder in 2-3 years.

    overbeck actually looked good in the field making several nice plays. his bat was erratic. he got some hits but in the second game swung and missed on all 6 pitches he saw in 2 straight at bats. don’t know if he will hit for average but he does have the power tool; the homer he hit in the bottom of the 9th to tie the game was a parking lot shot over both walls. didn’t see the 8 run inning later because swmbo suggested it was time to go home.

    last but not least, rizzotti was unstoppable. richmond finally stopped pitching to him. most of his hard hit balls were to left. as a fielder, i think he could be a ryan howard at first base, although he doesn’t seem quite as athletic as howard and may end up a notch below. was the most fan friendly of all the phils, chatting with fans and tossing balls to kids. seemed to be a really nice guy. i think there is a place in the majors for his bat.

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  37. Post all-star game split for Rizzotti: 591/750/1341

    Just thought it was kinda funny to laugh about~

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  38. The Phillies have to do something with Rizzotti, its just getting out of hand now, they dropped the ball in his development this whole time so I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up doing nothing. I understand why he doen’st have trade value at this point, but again I see this is being the Phillies fault. They cant move him to Lehigh Valley as the only thing their fans seem to care about is their beloved Andy Tracy, since other than that they never cheer. He deserves a promotion and should get a call up as bench bat in Sept, at this point what does he have to prove in AA? They won’t even pitch to him anymore.

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  39. Matt Rizzotti has no trade value and it’s the Phillies fault? It couldn’t have anything to do with him having his first good season at age 24, in A ball then AA.

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  40. @ mike he has always hit for high average, power develops last, maybe the phillies shouldn’t have had him DH’in in A ball. Maybe they should have played him the OF a bit. But no he only becomes a starter at the age of 24 in AA that is poor player development and the org fault

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  41. I asked Callis on Twitter about the Rizz:

    jimcallisBA:

    Maybe, not on Phillies. Not as good as his big numbers. Bat is 4 or 5. @PhilliesRed: Matt Rizzotti, everyday first baseman? Hit tool grade?

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  43. I wouldn’t call .260, .278 and .263 in his first three seasons in the minors “always hitting for high average.”

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  44. Well Reading sucked tonight, every person in the line up struck out at least once. Overbeck wears the collar 0-4 4 k’s

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  45. right now lehigh valley, reading, clearwater and are besides some relievers, the rizz and jc almost completely not worth attention

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  48. Rickey Branch, thanks for the article. Interesting info on Manzanillo! Congrats to him for getting promoted. Let’s see how he does against better competition.

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  49. Cameron Rupp had a big game tonight. He was 4 for 5, triple shy of the cycle. It is early, but it looks like the Phillies took the better bat in Rupp, over Michah Gibbs and Kavsnicka. Michah Gibbs has been a disaster so far, batting .059
    Because Rupp is a high pick from a high profile college program, it would not be unheard of for a guy like that, to start in Clearwater. Rupp and Sabastian Valle may be in direct competition at the same level next year.

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  50. I am not a scout but riz at 24 having a break out season, doesnt mean he isnt a good prospect, there have been other late bloomers in baseball, but the thing that still sticks in my mind is the gillick interview, when he was asked if there was any postion help now that brown is here, not until you get to a ball. so he must either have forgot about riz and garcia or doesnt hold high opion of them.

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  51. Two guys who have gotten better as they go up. I luv that even if Gillick doesn’t. Those type of guys don’t seem to fall off much in the show.

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  52. Looking at boxscore from clearwater last night, beside pitchers, do you consider any positon players there prospects?

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  54. Interesting to see what lefty Ervis Manzanillo does in his first NY-Penn start on Sunday. He was averaging a K an inning with a WHIP under one in the GCL.

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  55. wow… Julio Rodriguez 4 innings 0 h 1bb 9k. This coming off the 6 inning 10 k performance.

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