With the posting of the minor league workout groups I wanted to throw up another post with brief info on some of the new faces in camp that have not previously played at GCL or in another stateside league. There are at my count 20 new players listed on the minor league workout groups that did not play in the U.S. This is a huge number, though I imagine the Phillies will pare down that number a little by releasing a handful of the older players and demoting a few to the DSL or VSL leagues to get playing time.
Without further introduction, here is the list of new players in camp this year (age as of April 1):
C – Marco Davalillo (age 20, 6’1″, 210) – Starred at VSL in 2009 (.336 avg, 6 HR, .896 OPS) but hurt most of 2010. He was in camp last year but by the time he got healthy he was sent down to the VSL for the end of that season. Could jump all the way to Williamsport. Has also played lots of 1B.
IF – Jorge Castillo (age 20, 5’10”, 170) – Played mostly LF but 4 games at 2B last year in the DSL. .743 OPS with 24 XBH showed some power from a not so big guy.
SS – Gustavo Gonzalez (age 20, 6’2″) – Could be the older version of Anderson Gonzalez, one of the two Venezuelan SS signees who had larger bonuses voided because of age. Could be wrong about that though a new signee at age 20 is not likely a great prospect.
3B – Yeisson Morales (age 18, 19 in April, 6’3″, 195) – Big kid who played 2 years in the DSL with decent patience and developing power. Plays a position of need in the system though will have to slot behind last year’s high bonus signee Maikel Franco.
IF – Carlos Valenzuela (age 20, 5’11”, 170) – $200K SS signed at the same time as Jonathan Villar has played all over the infield though mostly at 3B last year. .638 OPS with limited power but some speed (28 SB). A big disappointment. Probably getting one last chance with the 2 Venezuelan shortstop contracts getting voided.
OF – Luis Amaro (age ???) – Speculating that he is our GM’s 22-year-old half brother. But really no clue.
OF – Witer Jimenez (age 21, 22 in April, 6’1″ 180) – Made a splash 2 years ago playing as Nevri Jimenez. Got older and less good last year. Hit .272 with a .665 OPS playing SS and the OF. Another candidate for Williamsport because of his age.
OF – Jorge Miranda (age 19, 20 in May, 6’0″, 164) – Hit .223 last year in the VSL with 2 HR playing mostly LF.
OF – Bernardo Solarte (age 19, 6’0″, 161). Signed 2 years ago out of Venezuela for $130K. Got 50 AB in 2009 (.716 OPS) then got hurt and missed last year. Profiles as a CF with some power.
RHP – Marek Minarik (age 17, Czech signee). Don’t know much. Will be interesting to see if he plays in U.S. or goes back to Europe for one more season.
http://www.mister-baseball.com/czech-rhp-marek-minarik-signs-philadelphia-phillies/
RHP – Gabriel Arias (age 21, 6’2″, 185) – Signed for $100K but then it took him 4 years to get out of the DSL. 1.22 ERA with great command (6 BB, 67K). Not getting promoted after 4 years when he never had an ERA above 2.63 is a sign he is not that highly regarded.
RHP – Leonel Bastidas (age 21, 6’3″, 184) – 3 years in VSL. 3.82 ERA last year. (66 IP, 69 H, 16 BB, 45 K). Good command but does not miss that many bats.
RHP – Carlos Best (age 20, 6’2″, 170) – 3 years in DSL. First was as an OF then converted to pitcher and improved greatly last year. 1.55 ERA (75.2 IP, 58 H, 17 BB, 66 K).
RHP – Daniel De La Cruz (age 20, 6’3″, 175) – 3 years in DSL. Closer last year. 1.03 and 1.11 ERA the last 2 years. Good peripherals though the one warning sign is that he did not start and most of the better prospects are starters.
RHP – Zael Honora (age 20, 6’2″, 199) – 2 year VSL starter. 3.91 ERA (50.2 IP, 47 H, 33 BB, 36 K). Needs to cut the BBs.
RHP – Luis Morales (age 18, 6’3″, 195) – Young, projectible pitcher. 6.75 ERA in limited time last year in the VSL.
RHP – Hector Neris (age 21, 6’2″, 175) – Older pitcher played one season in DSL last year. 3.24 ERA and 5 saves with decent peripherals (41.2 IP, 30 H, 13 BB, 34 K)
LHP – Luis Gonzalez (age 19, 6’2″, 170) – One year in the DSL. 4.14 ERA not impressive. Needs work on command but is lefthanded. (37 IP, 28 H, 36 BB, 29 K).
LHP – Pedro Lora (age 22, 6′ 1″, 190) – Two seasons in the DSL. 2.58 ERA (38.1 IP, 30 H, 10 BB, 37 K last year). Wish he was younger.
LHP – Franklyn Vargas (age 16, 6’4″, 205) – Top signee this year from the Dominican for $330K. Young, projectible, lefthanded. What more could one want. Also listed as Zavala or Zabala. Hope the 6’4″ is legit. Here is a brief scouting report from the DSL prospect league:
Zabala is 6’2 175lb, XL frame and room to fill out. His easy, fluid arm action caught the attention of many organizations. His pitches and ability to control the game set him apart from other pitchers in the league. He commands an 87-89 mph FB, a CB with tight rotation and a CH with movement down in the zone. Franklin’s future should be a middle of the rotation pitcher with 3 solid pitches now with the chance of having 2 above avg pitches (FB-CB).
From this lists of new prospects the ones I am most excited about are Davalillo, Morales, and Solarte on offense with Vargas/Zavala, Best, and maybe Luis Morales (age 18 is key) on the mound. We might get a quick read on some from the upcoming minor league spring training games (starting 3/14) but most likely we will wait till the GCL season to start to learn about most of them.
Phuture Phillies 
Great stuff as usual Andy. Valenzuela’s been a bust so far. We talked a lot about him when he first signed. He also has more errors than RBIs or Extra Base hits. I’m sure the fields are more like goat pastures down there but every defensive chance must be excruciating.
Arias is a guy I’ve had on the radar for a while. You’re right about his strong numbers but he’s never been promoted. It’s possible he’s like Carpenter where he has 4 average pitches. That plays well in South America but might go nowhere here in the States.
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Andy, thanks for the write-up. Do you know for sure if Silva and Gonzalez didn’t actually sign w/ the Phillies or did they just have their bonuses voided?
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BA has the Phillies signing a Francisco Silva this week. I’m assuming it’s the same Silva as last year but at a reduced bonus due to age increase.
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I saw that too and agree with your analysis.
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I would think that the Phillies philosophy of signing athletes by the bushel at lower prices rather than baseball tools guys might extend to their overseas signings.
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That’s not really the Phillies draft policy. The sign no more players than an average ML team in most drafts. They sign their first rounders for slot, which is also what the majority of teams do. They over-slot several HS players a year, taken in later rounds. With our great scouting, we have gotten good results in the draft with this approach. With more willingnesss to break slot, I think we’d do better, but the current results are quite good.
The international approach with the Phillies does seem to be aimed at a mass of lower $ signings. The results have not been favorable, compared to what many ML teams have achieved internationally.
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Marco Davalillo was on Williamsport’s roster to start their season last year he was supposed to play there last year but got hurt.
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Watch out for Amaro he’s a sleeper. Coming back from injury he has plus speed and is a good AB
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Yeah, think that Gus Gonzalez is the true identity of alleged signee Anderson Gonzalez, SS, 6’2 , just 4 years older, that’s all, but maybe not. Gus played in Liga Paralela. As did the alleged Francisco Silva, maybe he was even older than that , so they did not bring him in at all. (Don’t see him among the new additions to the VSL roster , either.) Luis Amaro was in Liga Paralela , also.
Morales I have as closer in VSL , also, with DeLaCruz.
Witer nee Nevri Jimenez got more than one year older when they found out his true name ((?) , Maybe Nevri was the name of his little sister.
The way I say it shakes out , when extended spring training rolls around , the prospective GCL pre-draft group will have Gus Gonzalez at SS, Luis Castillo at 2B, Carlos Valenzuela at 3B, and Yeisson Morales at 1B. Witer Jimenez will be working in IF in addition to manning an OF spot. Full boat for higher levels in OF, so GCL OF candidates under pressure, say that Jimenez joined in skeleton crew OF by Brian Pointer, and Bernardo Solarte, With Luis Beltre and Luis Unda (also 1B work) working in, uncertain for guys I also have listed: Luis Amaro, Bill Rice, and Jorge Miranda.
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Half of these players will probably not play that much, especially the older ones. If Yeisson Morales is a better prospect than Carlos Valenzuela he will end up with the 3B playing time. The goal is not to play everyone. It is really to make sure the better prospects get the playing time. I would not be surprised if Valenzuela got released at some point as well given his mediocre offensive and defensive performances so far.
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What is the info on that 3rd baseman (Name not recalled) who was signed and is touted by some people here?
What are his promising baseball abilities that could be projected?
Information please.
Is there anybody on that list above who excites anybody here excepting that lefty pitcher that PP likes?
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Are you referring to Maikel Franco. He was a high dollar signing out of the Dominican last year and played at GCL at age 17. Only hit .222 with a .622 OPS but did show a little power with 15 XBH at a really young age. It would not surprise me if he is a top 20 prospect at the end of next year though it is really hard to project that when he is so young for his level and we have not yet seen great performance.
I imagine he will repeat short season ball. Maybe Williamsport if he has a good Spring.
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Thanks andyb.
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Wait, so what happened to Gonzalez and Silva? From what I gathered from the comments, it looks like they were actually older than they implied. Is this the true and whole story? Thanks.
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True and whole story, only the involved parties will know this for sure, I reckon. Somebody said there is something on Baseball America to that effect, I don’t subscribe. What is known is the above listed Gustavo Gonzalez played in Liga Paralela, and now is listed as born on 1/23/91 and no Anderson Gonzalez is shown. The Gustavo Gonzalez shares some things with the Anderson described in being a SS, 6’2 , bats R, throws R. Don’t know for sure, but the same could be said for the “missing” Nevri Jimenez, who two years later may be Witer Jimenez, couple of years older, but around 6’2 180 ,Switch Hitter, plays all non-battery positions, around the same array of stats, etc. Also a Francisco Silva played in Liga Paralela, but now no Francisco Silva is on Spring Training, full season (offseason), or Venezuelan roster. I guess that the rumored Baseball America theory may be correct.
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On a related note: I found some new Latin American signings among the rosters on MiLB.com. (There are others which I put in other threads.)
GCL- Fabian Cota, LHP, b. 4/13/92. 6’1 170, From Los Mochis, Mexico. From same hometown as Sebastien Valle, around the same age. Maybe he’s in under the Buddy Program.
DSL- Fernando Rios, 2B, b. 8/22/92, 6’175, from David , Panama (same as Carlos Ruiz, maybe that connection starts to pay off)
VSL- Pedro Miranda, OF, b. 7/6/92, 6’180, also from David Panama (also Rios and P. Miranda from same town and almost the same age are sent to 2 different countries, maybe a “never have these 2 guys in the same room” thing.
Also appears Pedro Miranda may be the younger brother of Spring Training invitee Jorge Miranda. Maybe this guy is a guy they wanted and part of the signing conditions was that his brother, of limited results so far, received a Spring Training Invite.
Maybe, Maybe, Maybe.
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The MILB rosters have lots of errors on them at this point. Most of these new names are most likely minor signings that are not great prospects. We’ll see them in the complex leagues this year at any rate.
The better prospects are the ones in this post that have earned invites to Spring Training. It is nice to see the Phillies make some more inroads into Panama and Mexico, however. We also signed Chavarin last year from Mexico. Any progress in two more baseball-rich countries can pay dividends in the future, though our little foray into Brazil seems not to have produced any high-level prospects unfortunately. We have also pared back some in Australia unfortunately.
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I was kind of disappointed that the young Australian pitcher we signed last year RHP Josh Warner was not in spring training. His Academy numbers were pretty impressive as I recall.
SQUIRE
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Hi does anybody know some new info about spring training and plays? Especially interested in the prospective GCL pre-draft group players Witer Jimenez and Carlos Valenzuela, maybe Yeisson Morales? Thanks in advance
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