Can you imagine being at that game (and realizing it was a double header?) I mean, I like well pitched baseball more than most but that would have been brutal.
Can anyone explain to me why we’re even wasting valuable AB’s on Anthony Hewitt at this point?? Watching him hit is like watching Rory McIlroy play the back 9 at the Masters but at least they had the courtesy to stop showing him on television after he hit a few houses with t-shots. Why can’t the Phils show us the same courtesy and send this guy packing. We made a mistake, time to move on.
If there was another outfielder ready for full season ball, I’m sure he’d be taking some of Hewitt’s ABs.
The Phillies invested a lot of money in him. Hes obviously not panning out. But unless hes blocking someone else’s regular PA’s, its not an issue. I assume when Eldemire is ready to play, he’ll be taking his PAs.
Miguel Alvarez is sitting on the bench after hitting .329 last year at Williamsport. It could’ve been an aberration and I think he had a high BABIP but I think he’d be better served getting the ABs than Hewitt.
You make a very good point – thanks for the reply. But I think you’d be hard pressed not to find someone who played well in the GCL or Williamsport (or anyone with a pulse for that matter) that isn’t more worthy of Sally League AB’s).
Are you saying that once GCL and New York-Penn leagues get going and other OF/ DH prospects advance beyond those stages and deserve AB’s in Lakewood, the Phils will be prepared to admit a monumental mistake?
Hewitt signed for slot money. He was a “signability” pick.
Are you questioning the wisdom of Dave $$$ Montgomery?
In his Wharton Business School (and Bud Selig buddy) wisdom $$$ pushed Twins #1 prospect Kyle Gibson into college (and into the 1st round three years later), and Jim Callis can’t stop tweeting about Andrew Susac, another Phillies pick outside of the 1st round who stupidly thought he could get paid in line with his talent.
Not from Dave $$$ Montgomery!
Now Susac will have to be content with being a high 1st round pick out of college and getting paid like the talented prospect that he is.
Aren’t you glad Susac didn’t get his money from the Phillies? Dave $$$ Montgomery is!
Enjoy Anthony Hewitt, and Greg Golson and the fantasy of Joe Savery becoming a MLB All-Star hitter.
The Phillies draft spending has much in common with the Astros, and nothing at all with the Red Sox. According to the baseball odds, that means in five years the Phillies farm will resemble the Astros rather than the Red Sox.
Thats pretty harsh for a team that has been on a trajectory upward and to the right since 2003. Id say the farm and the big team look pretty good. You sound like a poor disgruntled mets fan. Or just some a$$hol$.
The Phillies draft spending has much in common with the Astros, and nothing at all with the Red Sox. According to the baseball odds, that means in five years the Phillies farm will resemble the Astros rather than the Red Sox.
While we may have spent like misers in 2009, that draft yielded Jason Knapp, Trevor May, Anthony Gose, Mike Stutes, Jonathan Petibone and ummmmm oh yeah Jarod Cosart in the 27th round or something like that. The guys we spent the most on: Hewit and Collier, both suck. So stop it already. Your arguments are terrible.
I think you’re being unfair to Savery at this point in time. Talk to me at the end of the season when he’s had 600 PA’s and has played 100 games at 1B/ LF.
There’s a reason they call them “signability” picks — because you’re taking a flier on a guy in the later rounds that has a strong college commitment and will be difficult to sign. Sure, we’ve lost some (Gibson, Susac, Stewart, Frazier, etc.). We’ve also signed a bunch of them (Brown, Cosart, Singleton, Colvin). Stop complaining.
The Phillies draft spending has much in common with the Astros, and nothing at all with the Red Sox. According to the baseball odds, that means in five years the Phillies farm will resemble the Astros rather than the Red Sox.
How about the lakewood OF, 3 for 33 in todays games. I see Hewitt and Santana are off to a good jump on winning the strikeout title. Not trying to be negative, I know Santana is young, but Hewitt might be ready for the mound.
And how do you know that? Did you fly to the Dominican Republic and waterboard his mother? How do you know that was really Santana’s mother? How do you know she wasn’t trained to resist waterboarding by the buscones?
It’s actually very sad that on this thing called the World Wide Web, where there is an abundance of sites that embrace stupidity, ignorance, and immaturity, that this individual has to come and poison the one fan site where the discussion is 99% polite, respectful, and objective with his stupidity, ignorance, and immaturity. If you really don’t get that Mr AEC, please read this and other comments and go find a place more suitable to you. If you really do get that and just enjoy upsetting people for fun, please read this and other comments and go find a suitable professional for the counseling and help that you need.
What are you talking about? I’m fairly certain that his question had something to do with whether Colvin’s early exit meant he hurt himself. As to that, no official word that I’ve seen yet.
Interesting to see an old prospect do well against one of our clubs. But as a 22 year old he should probably at least be in High-A by now if he’s much of a prospect.
Shutout in 3 of the 5 games. Runs were scored in only 2 innings for the entire 5 games in the minors yesterday. Clearwater was shutout until the 7th when they exploded for 5 runs. Leandro Castro once again supplies the fireworks. 92 RBIs last year. 7 RBIs in 4 games this year. I’m sure Free_AEC will spit on him but I like him. Now if we can only keep him from getting thrown out trying to steal 3rd. He seemed to do that quite a bit last year. The Clearwater lineup has some firepower. Let them have a shot at knocking you in.
Well, on the one hand the system seems talented. On the other hand you see the stats about how the Phils are in the 4th quartile of mlb teams in spending on the draft. And it makes you say, wow the scouting staff has done great; but also makes you wonder what would’ve happened if they had put a bit more of their growing resource pool towards Susac or others instead of that new flat screen tv at the bank.
Because clearly the flat-screen TVs were the Phillies’ biggest off-season acquisition. They barely made a peep in the FA market, right? Not a single noteworthy signing! If only Dave $$$ Montgomery would let us compete with those big-spending Yanks or Rangers . . .
Did the Phils need to sign a big-splash FA that I wasn’t aware of? Is $172 million major league payroll not high enough for you? Really?
I can see being somewhat upset next off-season when Lidge, Ibanez and Rollins all come off the books, but it’s a little disengenious complaining about lack of action this past winter.
And honestly, that money will likely be spent on extending Hamels, resigning Madson & JRoll and in probably finding another corner OF even if he’s 2nd tier. The Phillies will not just back down at this point…they’ll keep spending as long as they continue to make the playoffs and people continue to buy tickets.
$172 million payroll is not really a valid rebuttal to being in 4th quartile in draft and international spending over the past several years. It is not that the Phillies management isn’t spending, but they are clearly devoting a smaller and smaller share of the overall budget to draft and international bonuses. Given the very high quality of our scouts, that is a wasted opportunity. We’re talking about the need to spend an extra $1-2 million on bonuses, vs a $172 million major league salary budget.
You might want to go look at how many 1st round picks actually pan out.
Hint: Its not a lot. Even if you just go by how many make it to the Majors, its pretty low. Of that small group, an even smaller group sticks and becomes regulars. Of that smaller group, a very very tiny number become stars.
The Phillies have developed a model that maximizes money spent on the MLB club AND has given us a top flight farm system. Stop whining already.
In response to the amount of #1 picks that never pan out – it’s a useless statistics unless you put it in context. Do you know the % of picks in rounds below 3 that don’t pan out – it’s higher than round 1 I’ll bet.
Do you know the number of opening day starters that were picked in the first round? A whole bunch of them….
And by the way, observing a fact that the Phillies are bottom quartile in spending does not amount to whining. If you feel defensive about that fact; that’s your own problem. But to tell me to stop wondering about how this team would’ve looked with more funds for the draft is absurd. It’s what good objective fans on the game do.
No one here is complaining about the success of the Phillies.
It is a shame that a couple of idiots keep posting on this site. Yes, we would all like them to spend more money on the draft. That being said, the Phillies still do a good job of bringing in talented draft picks and more importantly developing many of them into major league players. A large part of our team is home grown (Hamels, Rollins, Howard, Utley, Madson, Bastardo, Ruiz), key trades of minor league players to acquire (Hallady, Francisco, Oswalt, Lidge, Blanton), good scouting to get (Victorino, Mayberry), good small free agent signings (Contreras, Polanco, Schneider) and big time free agent signings (Ibanez, Lee) and still have 5 of the top 100 minor league prospects, including a top 5 in Dom Brown. At least, 25 other major league teams wish they were as poorly run as Dave Montgomery’s Phillies.
Well said…I completely agree. Success breeds that type of poster though. Sometimes I miss the more intimate feel this site had in 07/08 (when I found it on a random google search for info on prospects) but I cannot complain with PP’s efforts and success in building one of the premier minor-league baseball sites out there. Lots of teams dont have sites devoted to their minor-league system like this one. Once you go looking for info on their players, you realize that and understand what a great asset this site is. James and his volunteers put a TON of effort into this site for ZERO pay (there’s no ads here, no corporate sponsorship and they all have day jobs). Hell, he has to pay for the domain name out of pocket. The least we can all do is respect that effort and the great product he puts out by being civil in the comments sections.
Best minor-league baseball site devoted to one team hands down. And its free…you can’t beat that.
In the scheme of things I guess its not a huge deal but it was obvious from the info we were getting that Kelly Dugan was the hottest hitter in spring minor league camp and they left him in extended instead of Lakewood so that Jim Murphy could continue his career.
They left Singleton in ESS last year and that seemed to work out. It seems like they veiw it as a chance to give promising guys more 1 on 1 instruction.
That’s your choice. Though if everybody has to agree with every decision made by the Phillies there really isn’t much use for the discussion element to the site.
I didn’t mean it as a “we should have blind faith” thing but I doubt they’re holding him back to give Hewitt or Jim Murphy ABs. They’re probably working on something very specific with him.
Squire, I’m with you. I can’t believe they’re wasting a moment’s time with Anthony Hewitt and Kelly Dugan is sitting in ESS waiting for Williamsport to begin their season. This makes no sense to me – one player has no shot of ever advancing past LowA and the other is looking for his first year of injury free pro ball to begin.
We already know that Hewitt couldn’t hit water if he fell from a boat, let’s find out what Dugan can do.
I disagree too, but there could be a valid reason. They might want him to work on defense. Or they might want Murphy and others to prop up the offense.
My best guess is defense combined with the fact that they might prefer him in the outfield to use some of his athleticism. That is wasted at first. The big question in a couple of weeks might be whether to release/trade Hewitt. He appears to be taking at bats now from better prospects.
Then you might want the best hitter out of ST. Murphy had like a .670 OPS last year as a 24-year old 1B in A+ ball. Not impressive, not even adequate production for a guy who was age-appropriate, which Murphy wasn’t.
Dropping Murphy down will probably give you something close or better than the 860 OPS guy from 2 years ago in Lakewood. I am not saying Murphy is any good, but the Phillies probably see him as the equivalent of the 30-year-old journeymen that populate the AA and AAA squads. Only Murphy is 25 and at the A- level.
I think this is temporary anyway until Savery gets moved up.
Wanted to thank the site for putting up boxscores and also thank gkketch for the top 30 list. Also like that it has others and former prospects on it as well. Saves me a lot of time looking around for it.
Other than his lack of walks, I’m kind of a Castro fan/follower. Scouts are always knocking him for lack of top-shelf tools but he’s a productive hitter.
I’m also a converted Castro fan. He has a lot of ability. He may max out at AAA, but there’s a definite chance he can make a major league roster at some point, perhaps something better if he somehow improves plate discipline or develops more power.
1. OF – Domonic Brown (Lehigh valley) – DNP
2. RHP – Brody Colvin (Clearwater)- (0-0, 9.00) 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB and 0 K
3. OF – Jon Singlteton (Clearwater)- (.333) 0 for 3 with a BB, a run and a K
4. RHP – Jared Cosart (Clearwater) – DNP
5. RHP – Trevor May (Clearwater)- DNP
6. C – Sebastian Valle (Clearwater) – DNP
7. LHP – Jesse Biddle (Lakewood) – (0-1, 1.93) 4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB and 3 K
8. RHP – Vance Worley (Lehigh valley) – DNP
9. OF – Tyson Gillies (Reading) – DNP
10. RHP – Justin De Fratus (Reading) – DNP
11. RHP – Julio Rodriquez (Clearwater)- DNP
12. 2B – Cesar Hernandez (Clearwater) – (.167) 0 for 3 with a run and a BB
13. OF – Domingo Santana (Clearwater) – DNP
14. RHP – JC Ramirez (Reading) – DNP
15. OF – Aaron Altherr (Lakewood) – (.000) 0 for 7 with 2K’s
16. RHP – Jon Pettibone (Clearwater) – DNP
17. C – Cameron Rupp (Lakewood) – (.250) 1 for 5 with a 2B, a BB and a K
18. OF – Jiwan James (Clearwater) – (.250) 0 for 4 with a K
19. 2B – Harold Garcia (Reading) – (.313) 1 for 3 with BB
20. RHP – Kevin Walter – Season hasn’t started
21. RHP – Colby Shreve (Lakewood) – DNP
22. RHP – Phillippe Aumont (Reading) – DNP
23. RHP – Michael Schwimer (Lehigh Valley) – DNP
24. 1B – Matt Rizzotti (Reading) – (.333) 0 for 4
25. RHP – Austin Hyatt (Reading) – DNP
26. OF – Leandro Castro (Clearwater) – (.467) 2 for 3 with a HR, 3 RBI and a K
27. OF – Miguel Alvarez (Lakewood) –(.000) 0 for 2 with a run, a BB and a K
28. OF – Kelly Dugan – Season hasn’t started
29. RHP – Josh Zeid (Reading) – DNP
30. RHP – Percival Garner – Season hasn’t started
Others:
2B – Josh Barfield (Lehigh Valley) – (.167) 0 for 4 with a K
SS – Freddy Galvis (Redding) – (.250) 1 for 4
OF – Steve Susdorf (Reading) – DNP
OF – Joe Savery (Clearwater) –(.800) 2 for 3
OF – Delwyn Young (Lehigh valley) – (.167) 0 for 4 with a K
RHP – Mike Stutes (Lehigh valley) – DNP
RHP – Scott Mathison (Lehigh valley) – DNP
RHP – Mike Zagurski (Lehigh Valley) – DNP
That will be a matter of weeks, not months. He could be in Reading by the end of April, right around when they move Rizotti from Reading to Lehigh Valley. At his advanced age, he needs to be in as high a league as possible.
Yeah, except he’s like a 16 year old who never played a full year of little league.
You have to keep in mind that Joe Savery is, from a developmental standpoint, only a little more than a college hitter. Even college hitters go to short season ball and Low A. For him to start out at high A and rake is beyond impressive. He needs a little time to adjust. If he keeps hitting like this, he’ll be where he is supposed to be soon enough.
Have to agree Savery is making things very interesting. If he keeps hitting like this through the next level we’ll have to start talking about where he fits defensively. At his age if it were my decision I’d move him to Lehigh after 100-150 PA’s.
That team needs some type of a story to get fans to come out and watch.
I’m not sure we need some kind of story. We’ve been watching a losing home team for three years, with attendance figures steadily increasing–tops in all of minor league baseball last year.
With that said, I’d welcome Savery back as long as he doesn’t pitch. Especially if Larish’ knee is balky and Rizzotti underperforms at Reading. Pretty early to be calling that, though…
Or Savery goes right to Lehigh. Cheese he didn’t do too bad there last year. He should be playing LF now to try it out. That would be a good fit at Lehigh if he could handle the job.
Lakewood- if the hitting lineup was able to get a single run in the 1st game , the story might have been a 7 inning shutout by David Buchanan. 3 hits 0 walks 4 strikeouts. I seen , looks O.K. might be a good bet to move up a bit. Throws 90 anyhow, last season first 12 pitches he threw, right on 90, according to stadium. That’s more than I seen from some of the other pitchers on that team, in contrast to reports seen on here.
Speaking of the Lakewood lineup: It’s not just Hewitt, other guys (guess about 6 or 7) are batting .000 , and the strikeouts- Santana seems striking out a bit also.
It could be the team just happened to run into some good pitching early, and things will level up soon.
Does anyone know anything about Hector Neris? He was signed out of the Dominican last April and spent last year on the Phils DSL club. He was just added to the Lakewood roster from XST and he struck out 5 in his 2 innings of work. To jump from the DSL to Lakwood in a year is a big jump. He turns 21 in June so he’s old in terms of Dominican prospects. Maybe he just roster filler or maybe the Phils think he’s got some potential and they’re pushing him along.
Don’t know much about him. He was an older player that played one year last year in the DSL. He turns 22 in June. When I did the quick international player preview I did not give him much notice because of his age and the fact that he was a bullpen guy in the DSL. He had a pretty good year there (41.2 IP, 30 H, 13 BB, 34 K, 3.24 ERA, 5 saves) but older players need to stand out more typically to be prospects.
The fact that they jumped him to Lakewood puts him in an age appropriate league or close to that, so it is a good sign for his prospect status. 5 Ks in 2 IP is a new thing for him as he was only 7.3 K/9 last year in the DSL.
Just something to think about while the Clearwater season progresses. Just read on BA that Singleton is the youngest player in the league. Even if he has big time success, I’d expect him to spend most of the year in HiA.
That’s kind of disparaging. It does reference that he was having trouble mechanically– maybe that is when he was throwing 87? It also may take him some reps to get his arm strength back. I hope.
I say let’s check back in June and see how he’s doing. I bet they are telling him not to overthrow which can easily rob a pitcher of 3 or 4 MPH. I’m not worried about it.
Were the Phillies too aggressive with C. Hernandez, by moving him up to C-water (skipping Lakewood)? They could have left Barnes up @ C-water to play 2nd…
Just trying to get some opinions. I’m not down on Hernandez, but does it cross anyone’s mind? My first inclination when they made the move was that seemed like a big jump (from partial season bb to C-water). Is that unusual??
He’ll be 21 in May. The age of some college guys. They regularly get moved from ss to High A, when they perform well. It’s not that big of a jump, IMO.
Just noting that Lakewood has only 1 left handed bat in the line up and no switch hitters, by contrast Clearwater has several LH bats and a few Switch, with a few of these are best bat prospects… Do you think they will adress the need for LH bats (extended) or because it is just the minors they will have to make due? Do yo think this would even help? Any chance we see Dugan, Duffy, Diaz or Stumpo brought up to inflick some LH options to join Collier?
Not sure if it was a trade or if they just signed him. Conflicting info right now. One of my guys just told me he had previously been released by Washington.
I’ve watched him his entire career and he’s a good pitcher but doesn’t have overpowering stuff. Just wins. He was a great college pitcher. Probably not worth getting excited about, but it’s rare when I have scoop.
16 inning shutout? Ouch.
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Can you imagine being at that game (and realizing it was a double header?) I mean, I like well pitched baseball more than most but that would have been brutal.
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Seven for seventy -three in a doubleheader-that is anemic
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Can anyone explain to me why we’re even wasting valuable AB’s on Anthony Hewitt at this point?? Watching him hit is like watching Rory McIlroy play the back 9 at the Masters but at least they had the courtesy to stop showing him on television after he hit a few houses with t-shots. Why can’t the Phils show us the same courtesy and send this guy packing. We made a mistake, time to move on.
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This one is simple.
Who is he taking away at bats from?
If there was another outfielder ready for full season ball, I’m sure he’d be taking some of Hewitt’s ABs.
The Phillies invested a lot of money in him. Hes obviously not panning out. But unless hes blocking someone else’s regular PA’s, its not an issue. I assume when Eldemire is ready to play, he’ll be taking his PAs.
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Miguel Alvarez is sitting on the bench after hitting .329 last year at Williamsport. It could’ve been an aberration and I think he had a high BABIP but I think he’d be better served getting the ABs than Hewitt.
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You make a very good point – thanks for the reply. But I think you’d be hard pressed not to find someone who played well in the GCL or Williamsport (or anyone with a pulse for that matter) that isn’t more worthy of Sally League AB’s).
Are you saying that once GCL and New York-Penn leagues get going and other OF/ DH prospects advance beyond those stages and deserve AB’s in Lakewood, the Phils will be prepared to admit a monumental mistake?
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Hewitt signed for slot money. He was a “signability” pick.
Are you questioning the wisdom of Dave $$$ Montgomery?
In his Wharton Business School (and Bud Selig buddy) wisdom $$$ pushed Twins #1 prospect Kyle Gibson into college (and into the 1st round three years later), and Jim Callis can’t stop tweeting about Andrew Susac, another Phillies pick outside of the 1st round who stupidly thought he could get paid in line with his talent.
Not from Dave $$$ Montgomery!
Now Susac will have to be content with being a high 1st round pick out of college and getting paid like the talented prospect that he is.
Aren’t you glad Susac didn’t get his money from the Phillies? Dave $$$ Montgomery is!
Enjoy Anthony Hewitt, and Greg Golson and the fantasy of Joe Savery becoming a MLB All-Star hitter.
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AEC, obviously you’ve seen a lot of Joe Savery at the plate. What specifically don’t you like about his plate approach and swing?
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Colvin Cosart you dolt.
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Dolt? A self reference on your part?
Phillies draft spending
2003 $1,417,000 Rank: 30th
2006 $4,842,500 Rank: 16th
2007 $4,092,000 Rank: 22nd
2008 $6,875,000 Rank: 10th
2009 $2,755.000 Rank: 29th
2010 $3,927,900 Rank: 27th
The Phillies draft spending has much in common with the Astros, and nothing at all with the Red Sox. According to the baseball odds, that means in five years the Phillies farm will resemble the Astros rather than the Red Sox.
Source Link
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Is there a reason you posted this in 3 different places? Other than to be annoying?
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Is there a reason that you’re such an obnoxious little s**t?
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Minor league system ranked in the top 5. It doesn’t matter how much you put in, it matters what you get out.
Keep on ‘tardin
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I was going to be reply – but to what end?
Good luck with the rants . . . I hope it makes you feel better about yourself.
P.S. Nobody is going to apologize to you, so why don’t you save yourself some time and energy and stop asking?
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P.S. Nobody is going to apologize to you
Of course not. A man would, but that’s not what I’m dealing with here.
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Thats pretty harsh for a team that has been on a trajectory upward and to the right since 2003. Id say the farm and the big team look pretty good. You sound like a poor disgruntled mets fan. Or just some a$$hol$.
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You owe me an apology.
Phillies draft spending
2003 $1,417,000 Rank: 30th
2006 $4,842,500 Rank: 16th
2007 $4,092,000 Rank: 22nd
2008 $6,875,000 Rank: 10th
2009 $2,755.000 Rank: 29th
2010 $3,927,900 Rank: 27th
The Phillies draft spending has much in common with the Astros, and nothing at all with the Red Sox. According to the baseball odds, that means in five years the Phillies farm will resemble the Astros rather than the Red Sox.
Source Link
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While we may have spent like misers in 2009, that draft yielded Jason Knapp, Trevor May, Anthony Gose, Mike Stutes, Jonathan Petibone and ummmmm oh yeah Jarod Cosart in the 27th round or something like that. The guys we spent the most on: Hewit and Collier, both suck. So stop it already. Your arguments are terrible.
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That was the 2008 draft
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2009 was Colvin, Singleton, Rodriguez and Dugan.
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The above response is mine. Im not apologizing.
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Doesnt matter, still awesome drafts in both 08 and 09
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I think you’re being unfair to Savery at this point in time. Talk to me at the end of the season when he’s had 600 PA’s and has played 100 games at 1B/ LF.
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There’s a reason they call them “signability” picks — because you’re taking a flier on a guy in the later rounds that has a strong college commitment and will be difficult to sign. Sure, we’ve lost some (Gibson, Susac, Stewart, Frazier, etc.). We’ve also signed a bunch of them (Brown, Cosart, Singleton, Colvin). Stop complaining.
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You’re exactly right. Not to mention paying over slot for Brian Pointer ($350 K for a 28th Rounder) and Kevin Walter ($300K for a 20th Rounder).
I think you can argue that they could devote more resources to the draft – but you can’t argue that they don’t devote any. That’s just dishonest.
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Apologize.
Phillies draft spending
2003 $1,417,000 Rank: 30th
2006 $4,842,500 Rank: 16th
2007 $4,092,000 Rank: 22nd
2008 $6,875,000 Rank: 10th
2009 $2,755.000 Rank: 29th
2010 $3,927,900 Rank: 27th
The Phillies draft spending has much in common with the Astros, and nothing at all with the Red Sox. According to the baseball odds, that means in five years the Phillies farm will resemble the Astros rather than the Red Sox.
Source Link
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And yet we still have a Top 10 farm system despite making several major trades that supposedly wiped us out.
You make no sense. I get that you’d rather spend money on the draft than sign a Cy Young winner for the rotation but sometimes you can’t have both.
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Thank you for being so predictable…. Baseball America’s draft grading from 2006 thru 2009 goes as follows:
Boston: B+, C+, B, C (total spending $31 million)
Philadelphia: A, B, B+, B+ ($18.9 million)
So tell me again why the Phils need to spend more like the Red Sox in order to get worse results? Enlighten me please…..
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How about the lakewood OF, 3 for 33 in todays games. I see Hewitt and Santana are off to a good jump on winning the strikeout title. Not trying to be negative, I know Santana is young, but Hewitt might be ready for the mound.
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I know Santana is young
And how do you know that? Did you fly to the Dominican Republic and waterboard his mother? How do you know that was really Santana’s mother? How do you know she wasn’t trained to resist waterboarding by the buscones?
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Its not even funny. I mean, you come off like a 15 year old.
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he must have been bombed.
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He must be bombed all the time, if you check out his linked blog.
WTF…?
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It’s actually very sad that on this thing called the World Wide Web, where there is an abundance of sites that embrace stupidity, ignorance, and immaturity, that this individual has to come and poison the one fan site where the discussion is 99% polite, respectful, and objective with his stupidity, ignorance, and immaturity. If you really don’t get that Mr AEC, please read this and other comments and go find a place more suitable to you. If you really do get that and just enjoy upsetting people for fun, please read this and other comments and go find a suitable professional for the counseling and help that you need.
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Agree with Rick—-Anthony Hewitt is not measuring up.
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Any word on Colvin?
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It’s early according to the sharpies on the board here. Nolan Ryan didn’t throw above 86 MPH until Memorial Day and got killed because of that.
Really, that’s what they say. Who are we to disagree?
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What are you talking about? I’m fairly certain that his question had something to do with whether Colvin’s early exit meant he hurt himself. As to that, no official word that I’ve seen yet.
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Savery goes 2-3 and his Average drops!!!
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Clearly he’s reverting to the norm.
Honestly, he’s probably only a .600 hitter so this is to be expected.
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Lol, Savery goes 2/3 and his average drops.
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Spencer Arroyo 5ip 0er 3 hits 5ks 1bb against lakewood.
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Interesting to see an old prospect do well against one of our clubs. But as a 22 year old he should probably at least be in High-A by now if he’s much of a prospect.
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Neris (L, 0-1) 2.0 3 2 2 0 5 1 9.00
The question is “Was neris nervous”? Five Ks in two innings and two runs! usual
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Shutout in 3 of the 5 games. Runs were scored in only 2 innings for the entire 5 games in the minors yesterday. Clearwater was shutout until the 7th when they exploded for 5 runs. Leandro Castro once again supplies the fireworks. 92 RBIs last year. 7 RBIs in 4 games this year. I’m sure Free_AEC will spit on him but I like him. Now if we can only keep him from getting thrown out trying to steal 3rd. He seemed to do that quite a bit last year. The Clearwater lineup has some firepower. Let them have a shot at knocking you in.
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81 RBI last year
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I picked up 92 somewhere. Maybe he had 11 in the playoffs?
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Actually he had the base stolen, he just over slid the bag.
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Well, on the one hand the system seems talented. On the other hand you see the stats about how the Phils are in the 4th quartile of mlb teams in spending on the draft. And it makes you say, wow the scouting staff has done great; but also makes you wonder what would’ve happened if they had put a bit more of their growing resource pool towards Susac or others instead of that new flat screen tv at the bank.
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Because clearly the flat-screen TVs were the Phillies’ biggest off-season acquisition. They barely made a peep in the FA market, right? Not a single noteworthy signing! If only Dave $$$ Montgomery would let us compete with those big-spending Yanks or Rangers . . .
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Did the Phils need to sign a big-splash FA that I wasn’t aware of? Is $172 million major league payroll not high enough for you? Really?
I can see being somewhat upset next off-season when Lidge, Ibanez and Rollins all come off the books, but it’s a little disengenious complaining about lack of action this past winter.
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And honestly, that money will likely be spent on extending Hamels, resigning Madson & JRoll and in probably finding another corner OF even if he’s 2nd tier. The Phillies will not just back down at this point…they’ll keep spending as long as they continue to make the playoffs and people continue to buy tickets.
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I hope your kidding?? Cliff Lee was barely a peep??
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He was obviously being sarcastic. We need to ignore one or two people on this board. They are clearly just breaking b*lls.
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Our Opening Day Payroll is $172 million this year…good for 2nd overall behind the Yankees.
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$172 million payroll is not really a valid rebuttal to being in 4th quartile in draft and international spending over the past several years. It is not that the Phillies management isn’t spending, but they are clearly devoting a smaller and smaller share of the overall budget to draft and international bonuses. Given the very high quality of our scouts, that is a wasted opportunity. We’re talking about the need to spend an extra $1-2 million on bonuses, vs a $172 million major league salary budget.
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You’re kidding right?
Money, whether spent on the draft or on the big club, is money. It’s finite.
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No he’s not kidding. He’s spot on correct in regard to the several stud talents the Phils have lost for that actual pittance.
The Phils should be spending in the top five every year. There is no bigger bang-for-the-buck in MLB than the MLB draft.
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You might want to go look at how many 1st round picks actually pan out.
Hint: Its not a lot. Even if you just go by how many make it to the Majors, its pretty low. Of that small group, an even smaller group sticks and becomes regulars. Of that smaller group, a very very tiny number become stars.
The Phillies have developed a model that maximizes money spent on the MLB club AND has given us a top flight farm system. Stop whining already.
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In response to the amount of #1 picks that never pan out – it’s a useless statistics unless you put it in context. Do you know the % of picks in rounds below 3 that don’t pan out – it’s higher than round 1 I’ll bet.
Do you know the number of opening day starters that were picked in the first round? A whole bunch of them….
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/03/how-teams-obtained-their-opening-day-starters.html
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And by the way, observing a fact that the Phillies are bottom quartile in spending does not amount to whining. If you feel defensive about that fact; that’s your own problem. But to tell me to stop wondering about how this team would’ve looked with more funds for the draft is absurd. It’s what good objective fans on the game do.
No one here is complaining about the success of the Phillies.
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It is a shame that a couple of idiots keep posting on this site. Yes, we would all like them to spend more money on the draft. That being said, the Phillies still do a good job of bringing in talented draft picks and more importantly developing many of them into major league players. A large part of our team is home grown (Hamels, Rollins, Howard, Utley, Madson, Bastardo, Ruiz), key trades of minor league players to acquire (Hallady, Francisco, Oswalt, Lidge, Blanton), good scouting to get (Victorino, Mayberry), good small free agent signings (Contreras, Polanco, Schneider) and big time free agent signings (Ibanez, Lee) and still have 5 of the top 100 minor league prospects, including a top 5 in Dom Brown. At least, 25 other major league teams wish they were as poorly run as Dave Montgomery’s Phillies.
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Well said…I completely agree. Success breeds that type of poster though. Sometimes I miss the more intimate feel this site had in 07/08 (when I found it on a random google search for info on prospects) but I cannot complain with PP’s efforts and success in building one of the premier minor-league baseball sites out there. Lots of teams dont have sites devoted to their minor-league system like this one. Once you go looking for info on their players, you realize that and understand what a great asset this site is. James and his volunteers put a TON of effort into this site for ZERO pay (there’s no ads here, no corporate sponsorship and they all have day jobs). Hell, he has to pay for the domain name out of pocket. The least we can all do is respect that effort and the great product he puts out by being civil in the comments sections.
Best minor-league baseball site devoted to one team hands down. And its free…you can’t beat that.
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That’s David $$$$$$$ Montgomery to you!
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In the scheme of things I guess its not a huge deal but it was obvious from the info we were getting that Kelly Dugan was the hottest hitter in spring minor league camp and they left him in extended instead of Lakewood so that Jim Murphy could continue his career.
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They left Singleton in ESS last year and that seemed to work out. It seems like they veiw it as a chance to give promising guys more 1 on 1 instruction.
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Singleton was 18 last year. Dugan is 20 this year. Still disagree with the decision.
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I’d trust that the professionals know what they are doing when it comes to decisions like that.
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That’s your choice. Though if everybody has to agree with every decision made by the Phillies there really isn’t much use for the discussion element to the site.
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I didn’t mean it as a “we should have blind faith” thing but I doubt they’re holding him back to give Hewitt or Jim Murphy ABs. They’re probably working on something very specific with him.
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Squire, I’m with you. I can’t believe they’re wasting a moment’s time with Anthony Hewitt and Kelly Dugan is sitting in ESS waiting for Williamsport to begin their season. This makes no sense to me – one player has no shot of ever advancing past LowA and the other is looking for his first year of injury free pro ball to begin.
We already know that Hewitt couldn’t hit water if he fell from a boat, let’s find out what Dugan can do.
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I disagree too, but there could be a valid reason. They might want him to work on defense. Or they might want Murphy and others to prop up the offense.
My best guess is defense combined with the fact that they might prefer him in the outfield to use some of his athleticism. That is wasted at first. The big question in a couple of weeks might be whether to release/trade Hewitt. He appears to be taking at bats now from better prospects.
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Then you might want the best hitter out of ST. Murphy had like a .670 OPS last year as a 24-year old 1B in A+ ball. Not impressive, not even adequate production for a guy who was age-appropriate, which Murphy wasn’t.
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Dropping Murphy down will probably give you something close or better than the 860 OPS guy from 2 years ago in Lakewood. I am not saying Murphy is any good, but the Phillies probably see him as the equivalent of the 30-year-old journeymen that populate the AA and AAA squads. Only Murphy is 25 and at the A- level.
I think this is temporary anyway until Savery gets moved up.
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The two catchers are the only guys in Lakewood’s lineup who are above the Mendoza line for the season.
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The Lakewood season is all of THREE games long.
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Wanted to thank the site for putting up boxscores and also thank gkketch for the top 30 list. Also like that it has others and former prospects on it as well. Saves me a lot of time looking around for it.
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Worth noting that Castro’s three run home run yesterday was hit off rehabbing big leaguer Frank Francisco.
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Other than his lack of walks, I’m kind of a Castro fan/follower. Scouts are always knocking him for lack of top-shelf tools but he’s a productive hitter.
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I don’t really like him that much but I think he has a chance to be a Ben Francisco type player.
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I’m also a converted Castro fan. He has a lot of ability. He may max out at AAA, but there’s a definite chance he can make a major league roster at some point, perhaps something better if he somehow improves plate discipline or develops more power.
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1. OF – Domonic Brown (Lehigh valley) – DNP
2. RHP – Brody Colvin (Clearwater)- (0-0, 9.00) 2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB and 0 K
3. OF – Jon Singlteton (Clearwater)- (.333) 0 for 3 with a BB, a run and a K
4. RHP – Jared Cosart (Clearwater) – DNP
5. RHP – Trevor May (Clearwater)- DNP
6. C – Sebastian Valle (Clearwater) – DNP
7. LHP – Jesse Biddle (Lakewood) – (0-1, 1.93) 4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB and 3 K
8. RHP – Vance Worley (Lehigh valley) – DNP
9. OF – Tyson Gillies (Reading) – DNP
10. RHP – Justin De Fratus (Reading) – DNP
11. RHP – Julio Rodriquez (Clearwater)- DNP
12. 2B – Cesar Hernandez (Clearwater) – (.167) 0 for 3 with a run and a BB
13. OF – Domingo Santana (Clearwater) – DNP
14. RHP – JC Ramirez (Reading) – DNP
15. OF – Aaron Altherr (Lakewood) – (.000) 0 for 7 with 2K’s
16. RHP – Jon Pettibone (Clearwater) – DNP
17. C – Cameron Rupp (Lakewood) – (.250) 1 for 5 with a 2B, a BB and a K
18. OF – Jiwan James (Clearwater) – (.250) 0 for 4 with a K
19. 2B – Harold Garcia (Reading) – (.313) 1 for 3 with BB
20. RHP – Kevin Walter – Season hasn’t started
21. RHP – Colby Shreve (Lakewood) – DNP
22. RHP – Phillippe Aumont (Reading) – DNP
23. RHP – Michael Schwimer (Lehigh Valley) – DNP
24. 1B – Matt Rizzotti (Reading) – (.333) 0 for 4
25. RHP – Austin Hyatt (Reading) – DNP
26. OF – Leandro Castro (Clearwater) – (.467) 2 for 3 with a HR, 3 RBI and a K
27. OF – Miguel Alvarez (Lakewood) –(.000) 0 for 2 with a run, a BB and a K
28. OF – Kelly Dugan – Season hasn’t started
29. RHP – Josh Zeid (Reading) – DNP
30. RHP – Percival Garner – Season hasn’t started
Others:
2B – Josh Barfield (Lehigh Valley) – (.167) 0 for 4 with a K
SS – Freddy Galvis (Redding) – (.250) 1 for 4
OF – Steve Susdorf (Reading) – DNP
OF – Joe Savery (Clearwater) –(.800) 2 for 3
OF – Delwyn Young (Lehigh valley) – (.167) 0 for 4 with a K
RHP – Mike Stutes (Lehigh valley) – DNP
RHP – Scott Mathison (Lehigh valley) – DNP
RHP – Mike Zagurski (Lehigh Valley) – DNP
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PP, Can we get gkketch propect round-ups front paged?
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How long before the move Savery up?
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If he stays hot, probably around the 100 PA mark as he’s too old for A ball.
Even that is lightning quick as almost any hitter can get hold for 100 PAs.
For example, Rizzotti got 31 Games, 122 PA in Clearwater last year before being promoted.
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That will be a matter of weeks, not months. He could be in Reading by the end of April, right around when they move Rizotti from Reading to Lehigh Valley. At his advanced age, he needs to be in as high a league as possible.
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LOVE THE BOX SCORES THANKS. savery in a ball to me is like a 16 year old playing against 13 year old. he should not be in a ball.
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Yeah, except he’s like a 16 year old who never played a full year of little league.
You have to keep in mind that Joe Savery is, from a developmental standpoint, only a little more than a college hitter. Even college hitters go to short season ball and Low A. For him to start out at high A and rake is beyond impressive. He needs a little time to adjust. If he keeps hitting like this, he’ll be where he is supposed to be soon enough.
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Have to agree Savery is making things very interesting. If he keeps hitting like this through the next level we’ll have to start talking about where he fits defensively. At his age if it were my decision I’d move him to Lehigh after 100-150 PA’s.
That team needs some type of a story to get fans to come out and watch.
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I’m not sure we need some kind of story. We’ve been watching a losing home team for three years, with attendance figures steadily increasing–tops in all of minor league baseball last year.
With that said, I’d welcome Savery back as long as he doesn’t pitch. Especially if Larish’ knee is balky and Rizzotti underperforms at Reading. Pretty early to be calling that, though…
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Or Savery goes right to Lehigh. Cheese he didn’t do too bad there last year. He should be playing LF now to try it out. That would be a good fit at Lehigh if he could handle the job.
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Lakewood- if the hitting lineup was able to get a single run in the 1st game , the story might have been a 7 inning shutout by David Buchanan. 3 hits 0 walks 4 strikeouts. I seen , looks O.K. might be a good bet to move up a bit. Throws 90 anyhow, last season first 12 pitches he threw, right on 90, according to stadium. That’s more than I seen from some of the other pitchers on that team, in contrast to reports seen on here.
Speaking of the Lakewood lineup: It’s not just Hewitt, other guys (guess about 6 or 7) are batting .000 , and the strikeouts- Santana seems striking out a bit also.
It could be the team just happened to run into some good pitching early, and things will level up soon.
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I would think in terms of Savery not just LF and how we can project him but if he can play a solid 1B let’s showcase that for other clubs to see.
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Does anyone know anything about Hector Neris? He was signed out of the Dominican last April and spent last year on the Phils DSL club. He was just added to the Lakewood roster from XST and he struck out 5 in his 2 innings of work. To jump from the DSL to Lakwood in a year is a big jump. He turns 21 in June so he’s old in terms of Dominican prospects. Maybe he just roster filler or maybe the Phils think he’s got some potential and they’re pushing him along.
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Don’t know much about him. He was an older player that played one year last year in the DSL. He turns 22 in June. When I did the quick international player preview I did not give him much notice because of his age and the fact that he was a bullpen guy in the DSL. He had a pretty good year there (41.2 IP, 30 H, 13 BB, 34 K, 3.24 ERA, 5 saves) but older players need to stand out more typically to be prospects.
The fact that they jumped him to Lakewood puts him in an age appropriate league or close to that, so it is a good sign for his prospect status. 5 Ks in 2 IP is a new thing for him as he was only 7.3 K/9 last year in the DSL.
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Thanks Andy. You’re right, 22 in June.
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Anyone know where Jacob Borup is? He was on lakewoods roster to begin the season didn’t pitch and is now back on Williamsports roster. Is he in EST?
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According to some twitter reports, he has some kind of back injury he is rehabbing in Clearwater.
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Just something to think about while the Clearwater season progresses. Just read on BA that Singleton is the youngest player in the league. Even if he has big time success, I’d expect him to spend most of the year in HiA.
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Agreed, especially since he faded so badly last year.
Maybe they’ll promote him to Reading so Savery can get reps in LF, ha ha
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Borup has a minor back issue.
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Article on Biddle’s first start in the Inquirer: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/119582769.html
Velocity readings not that impressive.
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That’s kind of disparaging. It does reference that he was having trouble mechanically– maybe that is when he was throwing 87? It also may take him some reps to get his arm strength back. I hope.
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I say let’s check back in June and see how he’s doing. I bet they are telling him not to overthrow which can easily rob a pitcher of 3 or 4 MPH. I’m not worried about it.
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He’s already off to a better start than Colvin from last year. It’s early.
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Didn’t mean to come off as reactionary or mean. Just observing. I recognize it is early.
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Were the Phillies too aggressive with C. Hernandez, by moving him up to C-water (skipping Lakewood)? They could have left Barnes up @ C-water to play 2nd…
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Really? After four games?
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Just trying to get some opinions. I’m not down on Hernandez, but does it cross anyone’s mind? My first inclination when they made the move was that seemed like a big jump (from partial season bb to C-water). Is that unusual??
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Not really. Hernandez played a tougher league in the winter.
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He’ll be 21 in May. The age of some college guys. They regularly get moved from ss to High A, when they perform well. It’s not that big of a jump, IMO.
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Its not a major jump. Lots of guys, usually better prospects, skip the Sally league altogether.
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Just noting that Lakewood has only 1 left handed bat in the line up and no switch hitters, by contrast Clearwater has several LH bats and a few Switch, with a few of these are best bat prospects… Do you think they will adress the need for LH bats (extended) or because it is just the minors they will have to make due? Do yo think this would even help? Any chance we see Dugan, Duffy, Diaz or Stumpo brought up to inflick some LH options to join Collier?
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It’s not a big deal, since teams rarely use situational relievers in the low minors.
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Reading having a fun night. I think Rizzotti, Overbeck, and Garcia like playing together. They are tearing it up again, just like last year in A+.
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I know Cody loves playing with Rizz.
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I’m hearing the Phillies traded for right-hander Adrian Alaniz, who was with Washington’s AA club last year.
It happened tonight.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=445030
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Not sure if it was a trade or if they just signed him. Conflicting info right now. One of my guys just told me he had previously been released by Washington.
I’ve watched him his entire career and he’s a good pitcher but doesn’t have overpowering stuff. Just wins. He was a great college pitcher. Probably not worth getting excited about, but it’s rare when I have scoop.
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