Hot or Not

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A few observations: Sources say that hitters havent seen much of Trevor May’s curveball this year (which is a plus pitch), because the Phillies brass want him to focus on developing his slider.  Whatever he has been throwing, it has been with success as he had 5 wins in April.

—Cody Asche, the Clearwater 3B is a guy worth keeping an eye on.  A 4th round pick out of University of Nebraska, Asche struggled in WIlliampsort last year, but is putting it together in the early going for the Threshers.

–With promotions to Philadelphia and recent struggles in the Lehigh Valley rotation, the time is right to consider the promotion of Tyler CLoyd into the Lehigh Valley rotation.  Since mid season last year, he has been extremely consistent in AA and is a regular on our “Hot” list.

–Jesse Biddle makes the “hot” list but that was based on his effort late last week.  Most notable is the fact that he lasted just 0.1 of an inning last evening, leading to speculation of an injury.

–It seems JC Ramirez is getting more comfortable in his relief role and was used in his first critical situation this week during a 1-0 Reading win over Richmond.

–A combined 1-39 for the Reading OF duo of Leandro Castro and Jiwan James.

Hot Starters: Tyler Cloyd (6IP 1H 0ER 3BB 7K); Trevor May (2W, 13IP 9H 2ER 2BB 13K); Austin Wright (7IP 2H 1ER 2BB 10K); Jesse Biddle (6.1IP 4H 1ER 4BB 4K); Adam Morgan (6.1IP 4H 2ER 3BB 5K).

Not Hot Starters:Tom Cochran (L, 1IP 5H 7ER 3BB 2K); Pat Misch (L, 3IP 7H 6ER 2BB 1K); Scott Elarton (9.2IP 13H 9ER 4BB 4K); Austin Hyatt (L, 4.2IP 4H 3ER 3BB 1K)

Hot Relievers:JC Ramirez (7.2IP 2H 0ER 1BB 2K); Raul Valdes (5.1IP 1H 0ER 0BB 7K); Bryan Morgado (W, 5IP 4H 0ER 2BB 4K); Colby Shreve (5IP 3H 0ER 0BB 3K)Jordan Whatcott (W, 4IP 4H 0ER 2BB 5K, SV)Matt Campbell (3IP 1H 0ER 1BB 6K); Juan Sosa (3IP 0H 0ER 1BB 3K);Mario Hollands (2IP 0H 0ER 1BB 2K); Luis Paulino (2IP 1H 0ER 1BB 2K).

Not Hot Relievers: Juan Morillo (2.1IP 4H 6ER 10BB 3K); Phillipe Aumont (0.2IP 1H 2ER 3BB 1K); Mike Nesseth (3IP 5H 2ER3BB 0K); Kenny Giles (2.2IP 5H 4ER 2BB 4K)

Hot Hitters:Cody Overbeck (.417, 3R, HR 3RBI); Mike Fontenot (.400); Cody Asche (.393, 5R, 3RBI); Aaron Altherr (.375, 3R 3RBI 2SB); Miguel Abreu (.364, 4R 1HR 3RBI); Cameron Rupp (.357, 3RBI); Erik Kratz (.333, 3R 2HR 4RBI); Brendan Tripp (.318, 4RBI); Steve Susdorf (.316); Carlos ALonso (.313). Honorable Mention: Harold Martinez, Tyson Gillies, Cesar Hernandez.

Not Hot Hitters:Leandro Castro (.000, 0-15); Jiwan James (.42, 1-24); Tyler Greene (.059, 1-17); Logan Moore (.083, 1-12); Rich Thompson (.083); Maikel Franco (.087, 2-23); Scott Podsednik (.105); Albert Cartwright (.150); Carlos Perdomo (.154).

35 thoughts on “Hot or Not”

    1. But then the third catcher is a guy with no big league experience. Either Tuffy or Valle. Either is bad for a contender. Also seems like I just read they’re DLing Thome and calling up Kratz. Can’t remember if that was news or speculation.

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        1. Not too far fetched to think that Thome, Utley and Howard could be playing at LHV at the same time. Buy your tickets now.

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    3. I don’t think who the back up catcher is really matters. Having Kratz in AAA is great depth.

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  2. Lets get it right…the correct pronunciation for Cody Asche, (pronounced ASH-ee).

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    2. Anonymous says:
      May 2, 2012 at 9:14 AM
      Lets get it right…the correct pronunciation for Cody Asche, (pronounced ASH-ee)

      I thought he was Japanese when I fist heard him say his name.

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  3. thanks Gregg. good stuff. Most of the pigs starters on the NOT hot list. I’d love to see Cloyd promoted but I think they’ll wait for an injury or someone opts-out of their contract. Amazing how many guys are hitting less than a 10 year old’s weight. I’m a big Castro fan but he’s always been a free swinger and I think it’s caught up to him. Nasty sliders, curveballs and change-ups are what he’ll be seeing for a while. He’ll have to learn to layoff pitches and, yes, maybe take a walk or two.

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  4. It always scares me when the Phillies do to a pitcher what they’re doing with May. Its great to get him to focus on his slider…I get that. However, I always think of Gavin Floyd and how they did the same thing to him and it shattered his confidence when he couldn’t use his curve. And then he had issues using his curve once they okayed it again.

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    1. The problem with Floyd was that he couldn’t throw his curveball for a strike. So hitters laid off that pitch and hammered the inevitable fastball.

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    2. I think it’s something they need to do. They made a mistake with Cole Hamels in bringing him up to the Majors without a consistent third pitch and it came back to bite them in 2009. (Although two different situations).

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      1. Hamels curveball was ranked as one of the top 3 best by BA his firt 2 seasons. It just disappeared on him for a year or two.

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        1. According to Charlie Manuel he didn’t think they made Cole throw it enough.

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      2. Agree with your general point but not sure Hamels is the best comparison since he had pretty good command of those 2 pitches. But your right that Hamels was beginning to regress until he added a third pitch.

        As guru pointed out, Floyd’s bigger issue was that while he had a good curveball with sharp bite, it wasn’t typically thown for strikes. As he began to face more advanced hitters in AA/AAA, he began to struggle as batters started taking it. He would have never succeeded without learning to command other pitches.

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      3. I’m gonna go ahead and disagree with the point about Hamels. His “poor” results that year seem more like a fluke than anything. He had better peripheral numbers across the board in 09 than he did in 08. Higher K/9, lower BB/9, higher GB% and IFFB%, lower LD% and FB%. What really killed him was his BABIP being over 30 points higher than his career average, resulting in 13 more hits in 09 than 08 even though he faced 100 fewer batters.

        In conclusion, even if his third pitch wasn’t “consistent” (which I’m not sold on), he was still good enough to get people to whiff plenty.

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        1. He had the same k/9 and .1 lower of a bb/9 (2.1 in 2008, 2.0 in 2009).

          I think a lot of his struggles in that season could be attributed to his high BABIP… but not all of them. I don’t think he’d be the 2.78-2.79 era type he is now… probably closer to his 3.09-3.39 era he had previously.

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          1. Oh no, I wasn’t suggesting he would be sub-3 ERA, but the implication was that Hamels was rushed to the majors, and that 09 was a result of that. Realistically, a low to mid-3 ERA would have been more appropriate for the way Hamels pitched that year, and that is indicative of a pitcher who belongs in the major leagues. He’s certainly even better now, but I don’t think 09 was an indication of being rushed or even regressing, just bad luck.

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  5. tonight’s game is proof diekman should be recalled and schwimer sent down. schwimer has never impressed me at the major league level. also, i’d release contreras, who is clearly over the hill.

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        1. If you had phrased it as opinion instead of fact (“tonight’s game is proof… who is clearly over the hill”), I might have treated it as such.

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          1. not sure why anyone would interpret it as anything but an opinion. what i stated was entirely subjective. 🙂

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      2. I’m not a Schwimer fan at this point but it’s hardly a few innings… this guy blew two games for Roy Halladay, got torched in another one, and looked awful tonight. He doesn’t have the command yet to be anything more than a mop up guy at this point. I wouldn’t write him off but he’s not ready.

        Personally, I think he’s got to get sent down regardless. Bastardo’s pitched 3 days in a row, Contreras got hammered, Sanchez can’t go, etc.

        Tomorrow, the bullpen could be: Savery, Qualls, and Papelbon. If Blanton gets hammered, you’re going to need some more pitchers.

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        1. Was more referring to Contreras. Hard to say he’s done just because of one or two outings.

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  6. Agree and agree. Contreras is done and certainly isn’t a set up man anymore. Diekman is nasty while Schwim is just serviceable at this point.

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    1. If anybody isn’t an MLB pitcher… it’s Schwimer. Contreras gave up a bloop, got a double play ball the Rollins botched and then gave up a hit and a walk. I think he should’ve been given a chance to pitch to Bourn and Prado.

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      1. schwimer failed to impress me last year, too. i’d never bring him in a competitive game with men on base. charlie should realize that’s an invitation to disaster.

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        1. Schwimmer pitched 2 scoreless innings last night. He gave up a run in his 3rd when he appeared to be very tired. The coaching staff did not put him in a position to succeed.

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  7. Put it another way. With KK and Blanton starting ,there is no one ready to pitch more than 1 inning and if they are the staff won’t let them do it. Hyatt ,Cloyd or even Elarton fits . Just who is pushing the one batter button ? Charlie or Dubee?

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