August 11 Discussion

Daily Discussion

We’ve got box scores!

GCL Phillies won 5-0.
Williamsport lost 8-3.
Lakewood won 17-3.
Clearwater lost 4-0.
Reading lost 11-0.
Lehigh Valley lost 6-0.

* Jesse Biddle was good again. 5 IP – 0 ER – 2 H – 2 BB – 3 K. Has been awesome for the last month.
* Kelly Dugan is raking, on his “rehab assignment” 12/20 with 3 2B a BB and a SB
* Leandro Castro 2/6 with 2 HR, Valle with another HR (15) and even Hewitt with #8

The End.

59 thoughts on “August 11 Discussion”

  1. A lot of shutouts were thrown yesterday.

    What’s the single season HR record for Lakewood? I thought I remember it being 19 by Ryan Howard. If that’s the case, then Valle has a decent shot at breaking that.

    And Biddle’s stock has certainly gone up the past month.

    – Jeff

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  2. Juan Richardson hit 22 HR’s for Lakewood the first year of their existence… Our would be third basemen of the future back in the early 00’s

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  3. I’d love it if Valle would show some OBP skills along with his great power.

    Its good to see a Phillies #1 pick actually pan out in the early going.

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  4. Only one game, but Bastardo comes in and falls behind, then has to come over the plate witha FB, that gets hit. It’s the same thing we saw with previous call ups. Think the Phils have to look outside for a LHP bullpen solution.
    Expect Brown to get sent back when Victorino comes back from the DL. No sense having 4 outfielders with little playing time. I actually wouldn’t mind seeing him finish the seasom at AAA. It’s obvious he still has some things to work on.

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  5. Personally for me Iwould love to see bidde do well, only a couple of kids from the area, have had a cup of coffee in the majors, like george riley with cubs from south philly, de michele, marzano, koplove, this kid played for the senators coached by koplove father,he really gets the best players to play for him, yesterday game to me showed he can get people out without a lot of strikeouts, and maybe his best stuff,it would be a great story if this kid from the area makes it someday.

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  6. With the way Dugan is hitting, why haven’t they promoted him to Reading yet? Think he could be a September call-up?

    Actually I’m kidding but it is good to see him finally making an appearance and having success. He was sort of the missing prospect for a while…

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  7. mikemike, don’t forget Mark Gubicza from NW Philly. He had 132 wins in his career playing for some bad Royals teams.

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  8. Poor Reading Phils they finally win one and they are listed as a lost. Interesting to see that Harold Garcia played third last night. I saw him for the first time Saturday and was really impressed. He looks very muscular and fast. Great to see our last two first picks doing well (Dugan and Biddle).

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  9. Bobby Higginson may have been the best philly born/raised player in the bigs in the past 10-15 years. There’s been a lot more if you use ‘area’ to describe outside of Philadelphia. But since you only listed Philly guys I’m guessing you mean just the city.

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  10. what biddle is doing is very impressive. his peripherals, key stats and scouting report are all matching up. the K/BB rate is extremely impressive for a kid who is working on pitches and refining his mechanics. i expect them to treat him next year like they did cosart this year. it is fun to dream on him performing similarly and us having 3 potential Aces in the minors.

    also, for all of those people out there who think that it is crazy that the phillies haven’t brought up Rizzotti, the answer is being demonstrated in the struggles of Dom Brown and Mike Stanton. By all accounts, better hitting prospects than Rizz, and have both struggled to make an impact. sometimes i feel like the people on this blog forget how hard it is to make it in the majors and just how big of a jump it is to go from AA or AAA to the bigs. here’s another name for you…matt laporta. remember him. a “can’t miss” prospect that went to cleveland for CC Sabathia. well, it is two years later and he is missing a lot. long story short, it is really hard to be productive in the majors. so temper your fantasies about Rizz solving all of our problems.

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  11. Was at the Williamsport game last night and tried to take some decent notes. I preface this with the same disclaimer that many do…I am not a scout (and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night either) just a fan. So, here goes:

    Batters:
    C. Hernandez – looked very smooth/relaxed in the batters box. His index finger is extended while waiting for the pitch, showing me his hands are very relaxed. Had very good speed on the bases and seemed a little too fearless. Took a huge lead after a lead-off single and stole second rather easily. Then took another huge lead and got picked off 2nd base. On defense, backed up on an easy DP ball in the 2nd inning and then gave a soft toss to Duran at short. Couldn’t turn the DP because of all the time he took and he nearly got Duran killed (Duran stayed down at 2nd for a short time after the play). Later, in the 6th, made a very nice play on a slow roller that just got over the pitchers mound to get the runner at first.

    E. Duran – The first thing I noticed about him was how slow his bat looked through the zone. Some would call it an “easy” swing, but to me it looked like his bat was too heavy. In spite of that, he had two hits and could’ve had three but the pitcher made a nice play on a ball up the middle in the fourth. Made all the plays he should’ve at short.

    M. Alvarez – Just looks like a ball player. Seemed to have good baseball instincts in the field/on the bases. First time up he hit a lazy ground ball to short with the defense back and a runner on third (just trying to make contact to get the run in). Made a couple of nice plays on line drives hit right at him.

    J. Lanning – A big guy/well built. Had a nice swing, but older than most of the guys there.

    J. Klocke – First, I was surprised at the pronunciation of his name (clock – EE) but that kind of stuff fascinates only me. Nothing special with the bat. Had really nice footwork on the two steals against him. The first one, the runner was half way to second before he even had the ball but he nearly got him anyway. Would’ve had him, but the throw was a bit low and Duran missed it, allowing the runner to go to third. The 2nd attempt he nailed the runner by a lot. Was chatting with the umpire most of the game.

    J. Cusick – The best I can say about him is that he really got hold of one in the fourth. Hit it as well as he could/as far as he could. Went 380 feet to dead center. The wall is 400 feet away.

    D. Rundle – Tall, skinny lefty. Didn’t hit the ball out of the infield.

    C. Alonso – Defense was very shaky. He botched an easy grounder in the fourth (slow roller hit right at him that he just dropped) and then dropped the ball on slow roller that he had to charge and barehand in the same inning.

    K. Hudson – Very traditional stance. Seemed a little tense at the plate, like he knew his stats were bad and he was pressing. Was muttering to himself a lot and shaking his head when he swung at bad pitches. Hit two grounders to the SS (one a DP) and was completely fooled by a curve ball that dropped in for a called third strike in his final AB. Very smooth in the field.

    Overall, not a great game with the bats for the team. I was impressed that in the 9th inning, when down 8-2, the came out swinging and had the whole team up on the top step of the dugout hanging on the rail rooting the team on. Not one player took a base on balls, and come to think of it I can only remember 2 guys going to three balls.

    Pitchers:
    L. Bonilla – James, I don’t know if you’re still looking for pitch counts (or if you’re even reading this) but he threw 46 pitches in his 1.2 innings. The gun at the stadium was malfunctioning, so I couldn’t get any readings on his pitches. My first impression was that he wasn’t popping the catchers glove, but that was his warm-up pitches before the inning would start. He threw much harder when there was a batter there. He sort of slings the ball from shoulder height, not really side-arm but not really over the top either. You could tell from the stands that a breaking ball was coming because he would slow his arm down to throw it. The hitters seemed to know it was coming too because he got rocked.

    J. Borup – Threw 50 pitches in his 3.1 innings. Threw from a 3/4 arm slot and had roughly the same speed as Bonilla. If I had to guess, I would say 87-89 with nothing breaking 90. But, I had no gun visible to me, this is only a guess based upon past experiences. Didn’t really seem to throw anything special.

    B. Blanks – Looked VERY similar to Borup. In fact, he completed all of his warm-ups before the announcement was made that there was a pitching change, and it surprised me. The only difference I could notice was that his arm slot was slightly higher, but still not over the top. He threw 24 pitches in two innings. His ball seemed heavier that Borup (louder pop in the mitt) but not any faster.

    B. Morgado – Wow…is this guy interesting to watch. Let me say first of all that I can see why he has control issues. He is all arms and legs and everything is moving. His follow through reminds me of Mitch Williams, although not quite THAT pronounced as he fell off to the third base side. There is a lot of work that needs to be done to smooth that delivery out. Threw 6 pitches in his inning, 3 balls and three balls that were smoked by the batters, but right at the defense (2 LD’s to Alvarez in left, one hopper to Duran at short).

    Hoping to go to the game again tonight, although family obligations may not allow.

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  12. WPT- Borup- I think that may be right, because at State College they had him right around 87 for the most part and everything 85-89. Bonilla was variable in speeds but mostly right around that, though he did get over 90 at times, couple of 92’s a 94, maybe he improves with work.

    CLW- Carlos Perdomo, though thought a fill-in for there at just 20 after promotion from GCL, has played regular at 3B and 2B, and though batting around .190 for a time , is now up around .243 or something. Maybe this can be next season’s 3B at Clearwater, and he can jump a bit in progress.

    LKW- 4 for 4 with HR for Alan Schoenberger, now regular and SS and has hit fairly well. Maybe this is a SS candidate mentioned as a strength earlier. It would be helpful if the MiLB site or somewhere could give the true height and weights of some of these players as further information. Got the game program for Williamsport the other day, and they seem to have a more accurate read of this. An example might be on Siulman LeBron who MiLB has had 6’1 170 for a few years , but the game program has him at 6’1 210. Visually, the game program seems more accurate.

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  14. Austin Hyatt makes his AA debut tomorrow night with a start in Akron. Still say this guy would make a great late innings guy sooner or later out of the pen at the final level. Did a great job in relief, 9 K’s in 6 shutout innings, for Lakewood in the playoffs last year. And watched him pitch a two strike out, clean 9th in the final game of the FIL last Columbus Day weekend. With the sad state of the big team’s pen nothing would surprise me with what they do with Hyatt.

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  15. PPfan- I’m not in the “The Rizz is a future All-Star” camp . . . .but he’s had a better year this year than LaPorta ever had. LaPorta hit 20 hr’s once in AA and hit over .300 just once. . . in short season. . . Just sayin’.

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  16. Some interesting pitchers going tonight for the Phils. Ramirez at AA, Aumont at A+, Manzanillo in the NYPL (one solid start, one disastrous start), and Miguel Nunez in the GCL. Nunez is 17 and is listed at 6’6″ and 215 lbs. Yowser.

    Nunez has pitched three games against the GCL Yankees, who own him, and three games against the GCL Tigers, whom he owns. He’s up against the Yankees again today, so here’s hoping he can figure them out this time. The GCL Yankees are a very good hitting team headlined by Gary Sanchez who is getting a lot of hype (and crushing the ball).

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  17. Rizz has never had a 20 HR season either. LaPorta has never put up below a 900 OPS in the minors while this is Rizzotti’s first time. While LaPorta may be struggling a bit in the majors now, he was always a far better prospect in the minors.

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  18. That Jaime Moyer kid has had a cup of coffee or two in the majors. Obviously just outside the city. Nice to see Biddle handling himself well. Easy to root for him to do well, seems like a good kid, with a good head on his shoulders.

    I was dissapointed in Bastardo. Seems to try to be too perfect in the bigs, but just goes out and throws in AAA. They really need him to get it together to replace Romero next year.

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  20. Ben Davis, Glenn Davis, Tito Nanni, Mike Koplove, Ruben Amaro, looks like the kid from GA may not sign with the Red Sox. Malvern, GA and PC have all the baseball players.
    Those are guys I remember from the Inter Ac. Episcopal just has basketball players (Ellington and Henderson) and Haverford School has guys who own the team (the Bucks, Middleton). Little known fact, the guy running as the democratic party candidate for Governor of Colorado (and current denver mayor) John Hickenlooper was the #1 pitcher for Haverford School in 1970 when they won a league title. He could not break a pane of glass with a fastball but he was a pretty good junkballer.

    I think the Haverford guys (the owners) have made out the best in baseball from this group…

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  21. sorry i know this should be under 2010 draft picks…but my phone makes me manually scroll down and it takes forever with all the content…but any word today on any signings? thanks!

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  22. Reggie Jackson was from Cheltenham, wasn’t he?

    Switching back to prospects, Hewitt really seems to have gone backwards. I wonder how long the team will stick with him, considering he was a #1 pick. I hate to say it, but he might be an even bigger bust than some of the other toolsy drafts – at least Reggie Taylor and Greg Golson made the bigs, and Jeff Jackson got all the way to Reading

    – Jeff

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  23. @JeffO…my guess is they stick with him at least long enough to where he has to be placed on the 40-man roster, which I believe is two more seasons. So, next year Advanced A and then on to Reading before they pull the plug.

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  24. I tried so hard for so long not to get down on Hewitt, but I quit. He hasn’t shown anything. At all. It’s a shame really…. goes to show you shouldn’t give a high school kid a million dollars for a good batting practice session.

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  25. I cant imagine how bad Hewitt would be if they promote him to Clearwater next year. He’s getting murdered by SALLY league pitching.

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  27. I submitted a question for today’s BA chat with Calis about Julio Rodriguez… I guess we’ll get his take if he answers

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  29. One of the guys I check every chance is 6′ 3″,195 lbs., 18 year old, third baseman Yeissson Morales. The kid is hitting .340 with an OPS over 1.000 with runners on base in the DSL. Gotta like his size, age and the position he plays. Now need to see him play. Wonder if he gets an invite to Instructs this Fall or to the minor league camp next Spring.

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  30. Rickey, Morales is hitting .147/.227/.206 the rest of the time. Why does he hit like a pitcher when the bases are empty but morphs into Pujols when there are runners on? That sounds fluky to me. Maybe the coaches should hypnotize him to always think there are runners on…

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  31. I have not followed the minors like a lot of guys on here, so excuse me if this question is stupid, but after reading the south philly review article on biddle, why do the phillies stop him from throwing his curve, and only want him fastball, changeup??? thats what he said in the article

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  32. In Reading’s 11-0 victory last night, Harold Garcia picks up another two hits. He’s now hit in 70 of 77 games between CLW/REA not counting the suspended game yet to be completed. He’s also reached base safely other than by error (i.e., by hit/walk/HBP) in every game except the May 21st game versus Bradenton. That’s 77 of 78 games counting the suspended game in which he already has a walk. Those are Little League type numbers!

    Am I making too much of this, or is this guy simply having a phenomenal year?

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  33. Plus, Morales has 0 rbis when the bases are empty. Zero. Wow, that’s bad. 8^)

    Actually, I just checked his stats (I usually don’t follow the VSL), and his splits with the bases empty vs runners on are like night and day – but given the small sample size (50 odd AB with men on, about 70 w/o), I’d have to say that it’s statistically insignificant. Still, he’s worth watching, especially given the lack of prospects that the Phils have at 3b.

    – Jeff

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  35. mikemike,

    I can’t say for certain but one of Dubee’s, and I assume also the organizations, main philosophies is that they want their pitchers to pitch aggressively and work off of their fastball. This is the main issue they’ve had with Kendrick over the last couple of years and why he keeps getting sent down for nibbling. Dubee is also a big change-up guy.

    I expect with Biddle they are trying to get him getting used to being aggressive with that pitch combination rather than having him try to “trick” younger hitters with curveballs. I don’t know about Biddle specifically but I’ve seen enough High School/College pitchers who have been conditioned by aluminum bats to be afraid of throwing fastballs and instead throw a bunch of junk.

    If a pitcher cannot command their fastball (even a Jamie Moyer 83 MPH fastball), they won’t last in pro ball very long.

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  36. Reggie Jackson is from Wyncote, which borders Philadelphia along Cheltenham Ave…he attended Cheltenham High School

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  37. Austin Hyatt promoted to Reading ….Its about time . Never understood the Phillies letting a 24 year old with his numbers waste time in Clearwater .

    If he has a future , he has to be tested at the higher level

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  38. Anyone know what happened to Felix Cespedes? He had a great year in 2009 in the DSL, but now hes nowhere to be found.

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  39. On Biddle, you can read all this in the scouting reports PP posted under “2010 Draft Picks” but basically the consensus was that his curve was a future fringe-average pitch and his change-up and slider had much more potential.

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  40. Guys, still trying to get some info on the unsigned guy. I have some calls out at Pepperdine, UCLA, Nebraska, ect…

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  41. Infielder Gabe Suarez signed by the Phillies, from the Atlantic League (Newark). Maybe he’ll get plugged in at Clearwater?

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  42. baseballamerica.com’s June 28, 2010 minor league transaction report shows Cespedes on the suspended list.

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  44. I recall a catcher from Phoenixville High who had a nice enough big league career that he will likely join Reggie Jackson in Cooperstown in a few years …

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  47. Time for more Rizotti to the majors talk. Gload with a strained groin. I’m no trainer, but it looked pretty bad. If gload had to go on the DL, I guess this keeps brown in the bigs

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  48. They will probably just wait and bring Victorino in to replace Gload…Ithink they still want to carry 13 pitchers..Brown can be the lefty off the bench and spot start..Sweeney will get most of the time at 1b with Dobbs getting some time as well until Howard is ready.

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  49. Biddle is fascinating. He is still growing and might reach 6’7″ and a near clone of that guy–hopefully–R. Johnson. A lefty who can throw fast balls @ 94-95 from the height of near 8′ and who releases the ball when his arm is almost upon you: that’s scary.

    He has, so far, shown that he can hit the strike zone and has enough giddy-up to K many in the GCL. At his age he shows well as a coaching absorber. They are good signs; he’ll surely hit bumps on the way up, but he is very intriguing if the other pitches develop well.

    It could easily turn out that the Phils’ made a major steal in the draft in him.

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  50. I’m excited about Biddle, too, but Randy Johnson was 6-foot, 10-inches and averaged nearly 95 on his fastball when he was 39 years old.

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  51. Poor Gload he was trying so hard not to grab his naughty bits. For some baseball is so cruel. Just when they succeed BAM.
    For oldtimers it was Oates beating out Boone then being run down at the plate by Parker just about ending his career at least as a Phillies starter.

    Lots of young relievers strutting their stuff tonight.

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  52. anyone else realize dom brown cannot catch up these big league fastballs, even the ones that are sitting around 90 -92

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  54. Brown’s been late on a lot of fastballs, even ones that are belt high and in the middle. But he didn’t get to the major leagues without being able to hit a fastball, too early to be concerned about anything like that.

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  55. All Brown’s current struggles show is that it is unrealistic to expect even highly touted prospects to have instant impact in the majors. I’ve be encouraged by Brown’s performance with the Phillies. He’s not been overwhelmed and shows the ability to battle and have good at-bats. He’s also show that he still has some things to work on, especially defensively.

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  57. I mean, its completely realistic to make statements like that based on a whopping 40 PAs. He might have a platoon split (most hitters do) but he’ll likely still make good contact against LHP just like he did in the minors.

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  58. Ryan Howard couldn’t get around on a fastball when he first came up either. He’s seemed to pick up on that pretty OK!

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  59. These postings are funny sometimes. When Raul was struggling, people wanted to trade/cut him and bring up Brown. Now, Raul is on fire and ppl are saying that Brown can’t hit lefties/fastballs. Baseball is a crazy game, the season is long, can’t make rash decisions. Just sit back and relax. The Phillies know what they’re doing.

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