This was a fairly predictable move, as Ramirez never developed a reliable third pitch, and his second pitch is inconsistent as well. The hope is that he can add a bit to his fastball now that he doesn’t have to pace himself, and sit in the 93-95 range. He’ll need to improve his slider to have any kind of high leverage reliever upside. I’d guess he will go back to Reading to start 2012.
Monthly Archives: March 2012
Freddy Galvis to Start at Second Base Today
Matt Gelb is reporting that Freddy Galvis will make his first start at 2B today. With the concern about Chase Utley’s health growing, while the Phillies may suggest this to be coincidence, I am not a big believer in coincidence. Galvis, 22, has played parts of 5 seasons in the minor leagues, spanning 526 games during that time period. Known for his outstanding glove at SS, Galvis has not played an inning at 2B during a regular season minor league game.
While the Phils interest certainly may be to gain the ability to use Galvis at multiple positions with Jimmy Rollins returning for the next several seasons, this will raise an eyebrow or two. Galvis is off to a good start this Spring, hitting .357 in his 14 AB’s. Stay tuned.
Kevin Goldstein releases his Phillies Top 20 Prospects List
You can check it out here. The scouting reports for 1-11 are behind the BP pay wall, so please don’t copy/paste that stuff here. His one line blurbs for 12-20 are free to read. I’ll add in a one line summary of his thoughts for 1-11, but check BP for the full content.
Four-Star Prospects
1. Trevor May, RHP – 3 good pitches, has improved command, still tends to lose his release point and works high in the zone which is dangerous.
2. Jesse Biddle, LHP – 3 good pitches, inconsistent fastball velocity, needs to focus on repeating his delivery.
Three-Star Prospects
3. Phillippe Aumont, RHP – Huge fastball, still struggles with his mechanics.
4. Freddy Galvis, SS – Defensive wizard, might hit enough to be a regular.
5. Sebastian Valle, C – Good power potential, improving defense, zero approach at the plate.
6. Jonathan Pettibone, RHP – 3 good pitches but no real out pitch right now, looks like a durable #4 SP.
7. Larry Greene, OF – Huge power, huge question marks about the rest of his tools.
8. Roman Quinn, SS – Great speed, good pop for his size, defensive home is yet to be determined.
9. Julio Rodriguez, RHP – He’s a magician.
Two-Star Prospects
10. Maikel Franco, 3B – Good upside as a hitter, good defender but not a great athlete.
11. Brody Colvin, RHP – Bad year, stuff was down, delivery was a mess.
Nine More:
12. Justin De Fratus, RHP: Could pitch in the Philly bullpen this year; ceiling is set-up man.
13. Carlos Tocci, OF: High-profile international sign has plus-plus speed and line-drive swing.
14. Lisalberto Bonilla, RHP: Smallish Dominican throws strikes with three average pitches.
15. Jiwan James, OF: Still as toolsy as they come, but has made little progress.
16. Cesar Hernandez, 2B: Impressive pure hitter, but pressure is on bat due to defensive limitations.
17. Aaron Altherr, OF: Anticipated breakout player collapsed at Low-A, but ceiling is still high.
18. Mitchell Walding, SS: Fifth-round pick is big athlete with plenty of upside.
19. Jake Diekman, LHP: Lefty side-armer with more velocity than most of his type.
20. Perci Garner, RHP: Power reliever who could move quickly with health.
Sleeper is Kenny Giles.
Harold Garcia to miss 4-6 months after microfracture surgery
This is close to the death blow for his prospect status. He lost nearly an entire year last year to an ACL injury, and microfracture surgery will likely wipe out his entire 2012. I left Garcia out of my top 30 prospects list, largely because I needed to see a healthy, productive year from him before I was convinced that he was more than a cup of coffee guy. This obviously sets him back even more. Microfracture surgery is tough to come back from (especially since it is the same knee as the blown ACL) though he is only 25 and its not impossible. That said, he turns 26 in October and will have likely logged a total of about 300 AB at the AA level in the past 2+ years. A tough break, and I hope for the best for him, but you can probably remove him from your lists at this point.
Spring Training Discussion, Week of March 5th
Here is your weekly discussion outpost. Thoughts so far? I’ve only watched bits and pieces of the first 2 games, but here are a few of my quick observations:
* Its great to see Tyson Gillies healthy. The speed is obvious, it’s going to take time for him to shake the rust off since he hasn’t played much in the last 2 years, but I think its promising that he made it through the entire winter and hasn’t had any setbacks.
* Aumont’s control and command looked spotty yesterday, but he was consistently in the 94-96 range and even popped a 99 on the tv gun. With him, it’s always going to be about command and control.
* Galvis has looked good, except for that one wind blown pop-up he couldn’t pull in.
Who else is catching your eye early, from a prospect perspective?
Phuture Phillies 