August 16 discussion

Box Score Recap

Today is draft pick signing deadline day, so that is where the majority of the heat will be. If there are signings, please post the links in that post, it will make it easier for everyone. Just use this spot to discuss last night’s games.

Williamsport lost 2-1.
Lakewood won 5-2.
Clearwater lost 6-0.
Reading PPD
Lehigh Valley won 5-4.

* Singleton with HR #13
* Shreve with 5 no hit innings; 5 IP – 0 H – 1 ER – 1 BB – 5 K
* Julio Rodriguez with 6 K in 3 innings of relief
* Mathieson with SV #21

37 thoughts on “August 16 discussion”

  2. Interesting couple of comments from K Law on Singleton in chat last week. He says that Singleton’s stock is down, which is fair I guess. He goes on to say that it’s hard to reconcile his two half seasons, that it almost seems like two different players. Less fair, I think. His BB and K data is virtually unchanged. His power is down a bit, but probably the biggest difference between his first and second halves is BABIP.

    The power drop is discouraging, of course, but the BB and K data is still quite encouraging.

    He had some nice things to say about the state of the Phillies’ minor league operation as well.

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  3. where does Rodriguez start next year? Clearwater as a starter? Lakewood for a short stint as a starter than promotion to Clearwater?

    Have to figure Clearwater will have Cosart, Colvin, May. If you add Aumont (who should not start at AA) and Rodriguez that is one sick rotation

    Is Rodriguez a future closer? 60 K in 38 innings- ridiculous

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  4. Shreve is a guy next few years is gonna get a lot of hype. He’s coming of an injury and is a little behind. He’s a top ten guy in the system.

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  5. I don’t usually advocate rushing pitchers, but I think Colvin could be a candidate to jump to Reading next season.

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  6. Overbeck went 4 – 4 in Saturdays game. He had 2 HRs (18th & 19th of the season), 3 RBI and a BB. He also had his 13th error.

    Nice to see Utley rehabbing and Altherr pinch ran in both weekend games. No other game action in more than 2 weeks; since his collision in the OF.

    Dugan went 3-3 on Sat. too. He’s hitting .654 in 7 games in the GCL.

    Juary Gomez had his 7th save in the GCL. His ERA is miniscule.

    Carlos Perdomo is playing in CLW at 20 years old. I think he was sent there from the GCL because they needed an infielder and he didn’t have to walk 10 feet to move up. He’s the youngest player on CLW. He’s hit .241 in 18 g. He’s listed as a SS but I think he’s only played 3rd and 2nd in CLW. He’s had 3 Errors. No power to speak of but he’s holding his own.

    Mayberry is keeping fresh for his September call up. He’s 11 – 23 (.478 clip) with 2 HR and 3 RBIs since his demotion (after a tiny 2 ABs in Philly).

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  8. Alan, are you saying you think Colvin could start in AA? He’s do young, I see no chance of him starting there. If he has a dominant year in A, could see a late season move to AA

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  9. At what point does J-Rod start getting legit hype? I’ve been following him all season after he had good peripherals last season, and despite not being able to get into a rotation consistently, his numbers this year are simply eyepopping. I don’t know if they’re limiting his innings or just see him as a future late-inning reliever, but any time a guy puts up those K and BB numbers, even in low A and SS, he must be doing something right.

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  10. I thought the issue with Rodriguez was supposed to be his stuff, but maybe I’m thinking of someone else. My memory says that he is one of those guys with extra polish for a young guy but without a power arm, so he doesn’t project as well. Those with more knowledge: is that an accurate description of J-Rod?

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  11. I like the idea of keeping Cosart-May-Colvin together, starting in CLW next year. Nick Hernandez will also be back, so those 4 and Aumont could be the rotation there. I think Shreve and Rodriguez can anchor the Lakewood rotation at least at the beginning of the year. Not sure if they will want Pettibone to repeat, or if they will think Biddle is ready for full season, but there are plenty of exciting SP prospects to go around. Its a fun problem to have to not have enough spots for all of them.

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  12. I’m more curious to hear James’ thoughts on Julio Rodriguez after the season ends than any other player in the system. It sounds like velocity might be keeping him from getting the hype that a kid his age with his numbers would receive. The scouting video linked to on the right had him consistently in the high-80s, touching 90 once. From everything I’ve read (granted, not a ton), he hasn’t shown much improvement in his velocity but he’s still super young. Tall kid, 6’4, 195 lbs. Looked really thin in the video.

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  14. I was at the Lakewood game yesterday. Shreve reaches 91-92. Julio Rodriguez was in the upper 80’s. I was distracted because my friends were leaving while he was pitching and it took me forever to figure out who was pitching. McGuire (the closer) hit 96 a couple of times and seemed pretty impressive. Singleton’s HR was to dead center, which I belive is listed as 400 ft.

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  15. I was at the Lakewood game yesterday. Rodriguez was sitting low 90’s with his fastball along with a change-up and curve. He looked legit to me.

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  16. I was able to see Julio Rodriguez pitch earlier this year, and he isn’t hyped because his stuff doesn’t match his numbers. When I saw him, he was in the 86-88 range. I think he touched 89-90 once or twice. He has good command, and his change-up is very effective. He has a lot of hitters out in front of his change-up. However, unless he adds more velocity, I don’t think he can continue to be effective as he moves up.

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  17. How fast is his changeup? I mean, if his changeup is in the high 70s, then he can get away with throwing 88-89. But yes, I would rather he add on some more weight and get that fastball to at least 91.

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  18. Is this right? I’m guessing what the rotation will be for Lakewood and Clearwater

    Lakewood
    Julio Rodriguez/Pettis
    Hernandez (because of injury)
    Pettibone
    Zeid
    Hollands

    Clearwater
    Colvin
    Colsart
    May
    Way
    Shreve

    That is a lot of pitching talent. I cannot recall having so many prospects like this ever.

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  19. Thanks phillyesq … you can’t just look at raw numbers and say a guy is a super prospect. You have to take other things into account. Just about anyone who has a high degree of pitchability can succeed in LowA and even HiA to a lesser degree. What phillyesq stated is what has been written. He is extremely advanced with his pitching ability. Not saying he’s not a prospect, he is until he proves he’s not. Just with a below average fastball, he has to be looked at with a great deal of skepticism, despite his young age. As he moves up, his pitchability will play less a factor in his success and we’ll get a better idea of what we have.

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  20. I have no clue what they will do with all their starting pitchers. Not sure why Zeid should be kept in Lakwood. He’s older and needs to be challenged to see if he’s a prospect or not. Some of these guys will need to be moved to the pen, just not sure which ones.

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  21. This is a personal report from my visit to the Lakewood game yesterday. I am reporting only as a fan, with no special expertise or scout experience.

    Overall impression: The Blue Claws play good, confident baseball. They are strong in most aspects of the game. Every batter (it was a DH game) seemed competent. Runners at first scored consistently on doubles. They weren’t perfect, but you always had the feeling that the game was in hand, even when they were losing 1-0 early on.

    Pitching: Colby Shreve appeared to be mostly a finesse pitcher. His fastball was 88-92 (touched 92 only once or twice) on the stadium gun, but he got a lot of mileage out of his offspeed pitches. He did not overpower the hitters, but I looked up in the fourth inning and thought: “Hey, this guy is pitching a no hitter” . Since he had already given up a run in the first inning, it was kind of unexpected. I knew that they wouldn’t let him finish it but he did get through his five innings allowing no hits. Shreve was followed by Julio Rodriquez, who pitched three innings, allowing one run. He threw a litter harder, 88 or 89 to 93 or 94. Some of those fastballs were really in nasty spots, such as low and away. The fastballs were hard for the hitters at this level to catch up with and Rodriquez (should we call him JRod?) also mixed in a breaking ball at around 73-74 which made him that much tougher. There were six Ks in his 3 innings. The last inning was pitched by recently acquired Mike McGuire who threw hardest of all, routinely reaching 95 and 96 on the stadium gun with a breaking ball in the low eighties that helped him get some ground balls. My location didn’t allow me to see if his fastball was moving, but one 95 mph fastball was hammered for a double, however, most of the hitters were overpowered by the fastball.

    Position Players: Jonathan Singleton rocketed a long home run over the 400 foot sign in his second at bat. That could have been a fastball, but mostly they threw him off speed pitches. He went one for four with two infield pop ups and one strikeout and will have to adjust to seeing mostly offspeed pitches with an occasional fastball, when he is not expecting it. In the field, Singleton played a smooth first base, although the throws were accurate and he didn’t have to make any really tough plays. Stephen Batts played well at third base, making some good plays, however, he is old for the SAL (24) and shows modest power overall. Although hitting under .200 in limited at bats, catcher Kyle Lafrenz had 2 clutch hits for RBI. Micheal Dabbs made a good play in right field racing in to catch a line drive. He also drove in a run. Leandro Castro had a bad game, dropping a fly ball in the first inning and going 0 for 4 with 5 men left on base. Alan Schoenberger, listed at 5’10” , but seemed shorter. He drew two walks, but by a quirk, had very little to do at shortstop, so I couldn’t tell much about his fielding.

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  22. I may be overly optimistic, but I expect Shreve to throw faster next season after the Phillies have him with off-season conditioning. He was a guy who threw low to mid 90s leading up to the ’08 draft and then had Tommy John surgery and then bone spurs removed and missed two seasons. Usually you see the first year after Tommy John surgery as the player being at a lower velocity and then they build back up arm strength and their second year they can get back to where they were before (if not better). I think the years are a little skewed for Shreve because in what would have been his first year back from TJ, he missed it because of the bone spurs.

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  24. Has colvin passed cosart as the top pitching prospect due to cosart’s injury trouble and colvin’s recent dominance? Personally I feel that they are about tied, but I haven’t seen either of them play. Could someone tell me the specifics of their stuff? Thanks a ton.

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  25. FlyByNite … sure hope you’re right about Shreve. He seems to have the ability to pitch … if you add in mid-90s velocity, it would make him a significant prospect.

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  26. Comment in Philly.com this morning that Chuck Lamarr says Rizzotti will go to Instructional League and Arizona League.
    IL I guess to work on fielding, take a stab at LF?

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  28. Yea, there’s pretty much no reason for Rizzotti to go to the instructional league except to work on LF. Will be interesting to see how it works out, I’ve never thought he had the ability to handle it, but I’m basing my opinions on watching him at Lakewood 2+ years ago. If he’s 30 pounds lighter, who knows. Maybe he’s a guy who could play average (or probably below average) LF for a couple years and then need to become 1B/DH by the time he hits 30.

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  29. Saw the Crosscutters play Saturday night against the Mets’ Brooklyn affiliate with best record in the NY-Penn. The Cutters struggled at the bat for most of the night and the starter had no idea where the strike zone was. Alvarez squared up two hard hit balls for a double down the third base line and a single. Klocke just miss a home run which was caught at the wall in the power alley in right. The ball was hit about 380 ft. or so into a breeze and would have been out at just about any other ball yard but cavernous and as they say there “historic” Bowman Field held it. He also drove an rbi base hit through the 3-4 hole in the 9th. Klocke impressed me as a lefthanded hitting catcher with some potential power. Santana lined an rbi single up the middle to make the game interesting in the 9th. Other than those three not much pop in the lineup. Still do not know why they signed Rundell and White other than they are looking for some lefthanded bats but they played without note.

    Pitching wise Fritsch had no idea where the strike zone was and at one point threw 12 straight balls before Truby mercifully took him out in the second inning. Claypool came on and pitched out of a bases loaded jam and looked promising with an occasional sharp breaking pitch. But the real disappointment was Bonilla who looked to be throwing in the high 80’s and had no breaking ball to speak of as he looked down at his fingers after he tried to throw one . He had just been sent to the bullpen after failing to impress in the rotation. Effective earlier in the season as a GCL short reliever, Whatcott finished up. He is probably the oldest pitcher in the NY-Penn League and was hit hard giving up three runs.

    Wanted to see Rupp but he only came up in a pinch hitting role in the 9th with the game on the line and two outs. He was overpowered on two high heaters by the Cylcone’s closer. He struck out swinging to end the game on a slider that broke a foot outside in the dirt. The other player I wanted to see Kyrell Hudson came on to pinch run but was promptly picked off first. Cesar Hernandez looked like he added some weight to his lower body since I last saw him but he needs to learn how to put down a sac. bunt if he is ever going to make it some day. All in all it was an interesting game with Asst. GM Benny Looper sitting behind home plate scouting. I am sure he, like I, did not see too many guys playing like future Phillies atleast on this Saturday night in Williamsport.

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  30. Amazing GCL Phils continue to roll-beat Braves yesterday-28-18- 4 and a half game lead in North! Lakewood also in good shape to win 2nd half!

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  31. Daygame starters today are suffering. In the GCL, Biddle went one inning and allowed 6 runs on 7 hits. He gave up 2 runs in the first and 4 in the second without recording an out. He also managed to commit three throwing errors. Only 5 of the 6 runs were earned. He seems to have had mostly good games and a couple of doozies, sort of like Kendrick.

    Andrew Carpenter, pitching for LHV, has given up 5 runs, 4 earned in 3 innings. Most of the damage in the first when 4 runs scored.

    Tyson Gillies started in the GCL game in CF, played one inning, scored a run and left was replaced in CF in the top of the second. Hopefully, they are just being careful with him.

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  32. Tom – the general feeling is that Cosart has a better fastball than Colvin, but Colvin’s secondary offerings are a little more refined. However, I’ve heard that Colvin’s fastball has gained a little bit more life recently… I think both guys could be very exciting, dominant pitchers if they stay healthy and keep working on their secondary pitches.

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  34. Kelly Dugan continues … 2-4 with a walk … average plummets to .633. Oh … and walk off HR in the 13th. Small sample size, but 19-30 is just insane!

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  36. Note: all milb games The A-Advanced level are DH games.

    Rizzotti- going to both FIL and Arizona Fall League according to article, so he likely goes to a couple of weeks in Clearwater and then goes to Arizona for the AFL. The AFL is a league for the best prospects in baseball (around the AA going to AAA level) and since the Phillies will share an AFL team with 4 other MLB teams, there should be plenty of OF prospects placed there, so I don’t see a whole lot of converting of Rizzotti there. If they are planning on this, perhaps it means they have decided to retain Rizzotti on 40 man roster after season, and if so they may bring him up September 1, and if they think he can deliver a couple of key hits,or so, they will.

    Julio Rodriguez- there was a scouting video on MLB.com his draft year, and I seem to recall he was around 90 or 91 usually and got up to 95, I’ll have to go see if it can be dug out.

    Tyson Gillies- I’ll look up that game , I had thought different from the boxscore.

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  37. Make that the A -Advanced level and below.

    Gillies – OK- he walks, they attempt a pick-off and Gillies goes from 1st to 3rd and later scores. Maybe all that running caused something .

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