Reading game 8/8 — live report

6. Reading

Two games in two days–made it to Reading today (with family, so I missed the start and end of the game).  I was interested in watching Harold Garcia and Cody Overbeck as position players (Galvis got the night off) and seeing Drew Naylor throw.

Naylor’s outing was not pretty, the second consecutive time I’ve seen a Phils’ minor league starter get lit up.  Naylor’s FB hovered around 86, and he threw a 79 mph slider and a 69-70 mph slow curve.  The curve was his only effective pitch. Erie tattooed his FB, even when he was pitching ahead in the count, and managed to punch a lot of his sliders into the OF for base hits.  None of the relievers who pitched while I was at the game was interesting, as I left before DeFratus came in.

Garcia had one at bat where you could see a lot of potential–got behind 1-2, took two close pitches then roped a single in the hole.  He got jammed in the other AB I saw.  He was most interesting to me in the field–I had seen him in spring training a couple years ago and he looked awkward in the IF–today he looked like the smoothest fielder in the game.  Very well balanced, nice throwing motion, very soft hands.  I can see why he’s been earning praise for his defense.

Overbeck really hit the ball hard the first time at bat, but right at the CF.  He was completely overmatched by high FBs in the other two ABs I saw, chasing them above his waist and not making contact.  The Erie lefty was only throwing 88/89, so it wasn’t a matter of superior stuff.

Brandon Douglas, the Tigers’ 2B prospect (Erie is a Tigers’ farm team), looked like the real deal.  He’s hitting .378 in AA this year, and his day at the plate (only a HR short of the cycle) made him look completely legit.  None of the Erie pitchers was anything special. While I was there, not one pitch by either team topped 90 mph (I assume DeFratus broke this trend).

5 thoughts on “Reading game 8/8 — live report”

  1. Anyone notice the “Who’s your favorite pitcher?” question on the Williamsport website? Angelle is on the list. He’s received 10% of the vote.

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  2. Sorry Chuck. The Angelle comment was supposed to go under the Daily discussion.

    In 2008, Naylor had 156 Ks to lead the Phillies minor leagues. I was assuming he could throw hard. Anyone know if he always threw in the mid-80s or whether he’s lost something? He flashed ability from time to time with an 8 inningm 4 H, 1 R game a few outings back. He’s an Aussie who most felt would take some time to reach his peak but he looks like he peaked a few years ago. He’s on the 40 man roster so something big was expected this year.

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  4. I wonder if Naylor was just giving hitters at the lower levels a lot of problems with his curveball. That seems to be his best pitch and A-ball hitters often struggle with breaking stuff. Now that he’s in AA and hitters are able to lay off of or hit his curve a bit the fact that his fastball isn’t very good is presenting problems.

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  5. Gosewisch did indeed catch. No one tried to steal on him, so I only got to see him throw between innings. His arm is accurate, he has a very quick release, and his arm strength is probably just a bit above average, which is fine given his release. He’s one of the most graceful catchers handling pitchers I’ve ever seen–he handles balls in the dirt completely routinely, and always seems to anticipate well enough that he’s not rushed getting into position. His footwork is perfect and VERY quick.

    He’s a small-ish guy, and he probably isn’t ever going to hit for power. His record as a hitter is a bit strange–he has lots of multi-hit games, and lots of 0-hit games. He could be a bit more selective.

    I’d be completely comfortable with him as a back-up catcher defensively, but he’d probably be an offensive black hole…but, a lot of back-up catchers don’t do much offensively. IF he gets the right break, he could play in the majors for a long time as a second catcher.

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