Lakewood Weekly Report (7/26-8/1)

4. Lakewood

Recap:  Lakewood went 5-2 on the week, leaving them at 23-13 for the second half, two games ahead of Hickory in the SAL North.  Overall, the BlueClaws are 65-41, which leaves them with the third best record in all of the minor leagues behind the Great Lakes Loons (Dodgers Low-A) at 70-33 and the Durham Bulls (Rays AAA) at 67-40.  Lakewood is off Sunday before starting on a nine-game roadtrip to Greenville and West Virginia.

Hitters:  Very nice week (and, really, a very nice two months) by Jiwan James.  Despite a very low walk rate, it’s tough to name another hitter in the system whose prospectdom has improved more in the second half of the year.  He was at .230 through the first two months, now up to .284.  His average by month:  .212-.246-.306-.361.  OBP:  .282-.290-.343-.396.  On to the weekly stats:

  • Jeremy Barnes:  5-19, 2 2B, 3B, HR, 3 RBI
  • Leandro Castro:  4-19, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, SB
  • Michael Dabbs:  7-23, 2B, 3B, HR, 3 RBI, SB
  • Anthony Hewitt:  3-17, 2B, 2 RBI, SB, 6 K / BB
  • Jiwan James:  13-30, 2B, 3B, 6 RBI, 6 K / 0 BB, 2 SB / 2 CS
  • Alan Schoenberger:  2-18, SB, 5 K / 5 BB
  • Jonathan Singleton:  9-27, 3 RBI, 4 K / 4 BB
  • Sebastian Valle:  5-26, 2B, 3B, 2 HR, 2 RBI
  • Jonathan Villar:  2-17, SB, 2 E (went to Astros Hi-A after the trade)

Pitchers:  All about Trevor May and Julio Rodriguez this week.  May tied a BlueClaws record with 14 Ks in his start this week (record also held by Robinson Tejeda and Jason Knapp).  It was also his first start without a walk all season.  He now has a 3.10 ERA with 42 Ks and 10 BBs in 29 IP since being demoted.  Even with his control issues at both stops, he’s still at 132 Ks and a .216 batting average against in 99 combined innings.  Rodriguez returned from Williamsport and on Monday tied (prior to May’s outing) the ‘Claws season-high in Ks with 10.  Then, coming out of the ‘pen after Colvin’s Saturday start, fired off 9 Ks in 4 IP.  This week’s pitching stats:

  • Brody Colvin:  9 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 12 K / 6 BB
  • Ebelin Lugo:  4 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 K / 2 BB
  • Trevor May:  7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 14 K / 0 BB
  • Jonathan Pettibone:  7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 K / BB
  • Julio Rodriguez:  10 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 19 K / 2 BB
  • Colby Shreve:  4.2 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 5 K / 2 BB
  • Luke Wertz:  6 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 4 K / BB, ERA down to 0.67
  • Josh Zeid:  5 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 5 K / BB

27 thoughts on “Lakewood Weekly Report (7/26-8/1)”

  1. considering all the prospects our GMs have dealt over the past several years, our lower levels still have a ton of potential MLs.

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  2. James is in the process of putting together a great season for a guy who was a pitcher a year ago. He is rising fast as a prospect.
    Where did Rodriguez come from? Almost 2k’s per inning this week is amazing!

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  3. Colvin, Cosart, May, Hernandez, Rodriguez, Pettibone, Lugo, Zeid…

    I can’t remember having so many better pitching prospects on one minor lg team of the Phils forever.

    Add in James, Singleton, and Valle…and these team’s position players are also superior, even with now missing Villar.

    A shame we may have to wait 3 years to see most of them in Philly.
    We should be able to hold out until then; at 3 yrs down the road the big team must have made plenty of changes—they are not getting any younger. But at least they will likely then have a superior pitching staff to ease the way!

    Thanks to the excellent scouting done by their guys.

    BTW, we should include several others heading for the bigs sooner than that: 2b Garcia, Hyatt, Worley, DeFratus, etc. IMO, Garcia should be brought up to the bigs in Sept. He could provide, at least, a utility inf guy who is not lost at the plate. And he should make the 25 in 2011.

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  4. Where do you see Jiwan James on the top 10 list for 2011 if he keeps up this level of production? Top 5?

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  5. I think with $140 mil+ committed to 16 guys or so for 2011, I think you will see guys like Brown (obviously), Garcia, Mathieson, Schwimer, Worley, etc. on the Phils, considering their talent level and minimal salaries.

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  6. James probably slides into the top 10 at this point. Cosart, Colvin, Singleton seem like an unassailable top 3 (assuming Dom Brown remains in the majors and exhausts his rookie eligibility). Beyond that we’re looking at Sebastian Valle, Trevor May and probably J.C. Ramirez. I could certainly see an argument for James getting into that group somewhere.

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  7. I’d love to see May have a few more games with great control. Would they consider bumping him back up or would they wait until next year?

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  8. Jiwan James is either 7 or 8, depending on Gilles placement on the list. Allan has it right. Cosart, Singleton, Colvin, Valle, Ramirez and May are probably the top 6. James, Gillies, Aumont, Worley, Defratus and Biddle in the next group.

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  10. Given that the draft choices of late seem to be chock full of seemingly excellent prospects, the coming bonus picks in the ’11 draft (for Werth’s going elsewhere) add two more picks in the first two and supplemental rounds which give them a solid chance to answer the oncoming need for a 3rd baseman, a shortstop, and a catcher.

    By the end of the 2nd round, at least two of these positions need to be filled in that draft.

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  11. Ilike our top ten, good mix of players.
    1. cosart
    2. Colvin
    3, Singleton
    4. May
    5. Biddle
    6. James
    7. Gillies
    8. Valle
    9. Ramirez
    10. Aumont

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  12. Still think James, who I like, is pretty high right now. I wouldn’t have him in my top 10, but I might be overvaluing pitching as I have Rodriguez in there.

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  13. I was able to see the Blueclaws play on Saturday. My fiance surprised me with tickets, and I was psyched once I learned that Colvin would be starting. I’m far from a scout, but as a lay person, here are a few observations:

    Colvin: He just didn’t have his command. He walked the lead-off hitter, then went to a very long AB with the number 2 hitter that ended in a ground rule double. The unearned run wasn’t his fault at all; with a man on first, Batts tried to field a sac bunt. He made a great one-handed pickup, and then threw the ball away, allowing the runner from first to score. Colvin had a rough night with the command, but he was generally in the 92-94 range. Rough night for him, but still an exciting prospect. Even with his struggles, he still struck out 6, and showed flashes of brilliance.

    James: As soon as I saw the outfielders, I could tell which one was James. He stands head and shoulders above the group, and just looks more athletic. He doesn’t have the best approach or the worst at the plate. You can tell that he has tools.

    Hewitt: He got a hit, and put a charge into another ball that was caught, but overall, I wasn’t impressed. At one point, he looked outmatched against a high 80s fastball. When he struck out, he looked bad doing so.

    Rodriguez: He looked very polished. Unfortunately, his stuff didn’t match his amazing numbers. Despite the insane K totals, he was sitting at 86-88 most of the night. I think he touched 90 once. He had a change-up that he used very effectively, and really mixed speeds well. He relied on location and changing speeds, and obviously had great results. He’s still young, so hopefully he’ll add some velocity.

    Singleton: Kind of like James, he stuck out as a man among boys. They tried to pitch around him, walking him once, and another time going to a full count. Didn’t see too much from Singleton, but it was a quiet night from Lakewood.

    Despite the disappointing result, the game was a lot of fun. I hope to see some of these guys in Philly in the not so distant future.

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  14. It is amazing to think that with the trades for Lee, Halladay and Oswalt, we still can have preliminary Top 10 prospect lists for which at least 15-20 guys merit consideration: Cosart, Colvin, Singleton, May, Biddle, James, Gillies, Valle, Ramirez, Aumont, Santana, Shreve, J. Rodriguez, J. Sanchez, DeFratus, Schwimer, Mathieson (still counts, I think), Worley, Rizzotti, and A. Hyatt.

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  16. Imagine if Collier, Dugan, Hewitt and/ or Hudson start putting something together. I am probably giving up on Hewitt, but who knows about the others.

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  18. Depending on your taste in players, an dour preference for performance or potential, I think James could be rated as high as #4 on some lists, and as low as around #10. I think anyone who rates him lower than #10 has a qite different view on prospects than most folks.

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  20. phillychuck-

    I was just talking to someone about James moving up the prospect ladder. I think after Brown (depending on how many ABs he gets), Singleton, and Santana the only other position player who you could argue over him would be Valle. I’ve always had a tough time comparing the values of what a position player like James could be to a pitcher like Biddle could be. I think James will make the final top 10 right around #9, of course that’s just my opinion.

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  21. I think Valle should be ranked higher than James. He is a catcher and he is younger. I think his performance rates higher with that factored in.
    Aaron Altherr will be the guy that I am interested in seeing how the pros rate. He is having a better season at a younger age than Jiwan James had last year. James was #11 in a deeper system. I could see Altherr as high as #13 this year.

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  22. May, 35 pitch, three walk first inning but still ahead 1-0. It’s going to be a short outing.

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  23. Rizz has to show me at least half a year next year of similar stuff… Then I would say top ten… And a much better trade candidate to send to Oakland.

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  25. Lakewood staff has a 2.85 era since April. That’s certainly a big reason for their success. Arms galore with major league potential on this staff. It will be fun to watch this group develop the next two years.

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  26. I know the Dabbs kid is not a prospect, but Ive been following him since he left Okla. State. I like what the minor league hitting guys have done with his swing. Even though he was successful at the college level. A Juco All-American, and all Big 12 OF at Okie State. I know the pro level is more challenging and schedule more gruelling. But its nice to see that he has figured out hitting with a wooden bat. Wish all the Phuture Phills good luck and look forward to seeing a few of them in the playoffs.

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  27. Yeah, not sure Dabbs is a prospect any more than Barnes or Schoenberger, but as long as these guys hit, I throw them in my prospect mix. The one thing I’ve noticed this year as I spend more time on the site is that unless a guy appears in the Baseball America Top 30, he’s fighting an uphill battle (including from me) in being viewed as a prospect. At the end of the day, when you go back through ten years of BA’s Top 30s, I’m not sure they know a heck of a lot more than anyone else.

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