Hot or Not

Other Stuff

Comments to get it going:

–With how poor the Phils bullpen has been, it is time to take a shot on Jake Diekman. He clearly has the “stuff”. It is simply a matter of whether he is ready. Sometimes ready needs to be pushed along by circumstance.

–Credit where it is due to Anthony Hewitt who had an outstanding week, raising his average on the year to the .270 neighborhood.  Aberration or new pattern? I will take the former.

–Drew Naylor 5 runs in 5 innings of work which would have qualified for Not Hot status, however, coming off Tommy John surgery, he gets a pass as this was his first start in over a year.  Glad to see him back on the mound.

—Tyler Knigge has looked good week after week for Clearwater and warrants some attention. He was a 12th round pick in 2010 out of Lewis and CLark. The opposition is hitting just .157 against him.

–Getting excited about Cesar Hernandez.  Only 100 plus AB’s into the year, but he has shown growth at the plate and continued consistency with the glove.

–Continued consistency from Tyler Cloyd who has not had a bad start while bouncing back and forth between Lehigh Valley and Reading during the seasons first month.

Hot Starters: Julio Rodriguez (10IP 9H 0ER 6BB 12K); Scott Elarton (W, 6IP 4H 0ER 1BB 5K); Tyler Cloyd (7IP 6H 1ER 3BB 3K); Jesse Biddle (W, 6IP 3H 2ER 2BB 5K);

Not Hot Starters: David Buchanan (5IP 8H 8ER); Pat Misch (3.2IP 8H 3ER); Lino Martinez (5IP 3H 4ER 3BB 2K); Jon Pettibone (5IP 5H 4ER 2BB 7K); Trevor May (5IP 5H 4ER 4BB 7K)

Hot Relievers: Juan Sosa (4IP 3H 0ER 0BB 3K); Tyler Knigge (5.2IP 2H 0ER 2BB 4K); Mike Nesseth (W, 3IP 0H 0ER 1BB 4K); Justin Friend (2IP 0H 0ER 1BB 3K, 2SV); L. Bonilla (3IP 2H 0ER 1BB 5K); Jake Diekman (2.1IP 0H 0ER 0BB 2K, SV); Mike Cisco (3IP 2H 0ER 0BB 1K);  Colton Murray (5IP 3H 0ER 0BB 6K). Honorable Mention: BJ Rosenberg

Not Hot Relievers: Garrett CLaypool (3IP 8H 6ER); Juan Morillo (0.1Ip 3H 3ER 2BB 1K); Austin Brough (3.1IP 9H 9ER); Raul Valdes (4.2Ip 6H 4ER); Mario Hollands (2.1IP 4H 2ER 2BB); Frank Gailey (2.2IP 4H 4ER)Hector Neris (4IP 6H 3ER); Gilbert Arias (1.2IP 5H 4ER).

Hot Hitters: Anthony Hewitt (.462, 4R 1HR 6RBI SB); Hector Luna (.450, 6 RBI)Carlos Alonso (.429, 5R 1HR 4RBI); Darin Ruf (.417, 4R 2HR 6RBI); Cesar Hernandez (.407, 5RBI); Cody Asche (.400); Bob Stumpo (.391); Rich Thompson (.385, 5RBI, sb)Brendan Tripp (.355, 4R 1HR 6RBI); Troy Hanzawa (.353);  Honorable Mention: Andres Blanco, Edgar Duran

Not Hot Hitters: Brian Pointer (.083); Tyler Greene (.091); Cody Overbeck (.095); Albert Cartwright (.120); Tuffy Gosewisch (.125); Aaron Altherr (.148); Jiwan James (.150); Maikel Franco (.154); Cameron Rupp (.158); Chris Duffy (.192)

21 thoughts on “Hot or Not”

  1. If only Cisco had stayed healthy the last couple of years. The Phils need a prospect who can more than one inning in relief.

    Like

  2. Alonzo squares up on the ball as well as anyone in the Phils org. He is a flat out masher and by all accounts, not a butcher in the field, as they have him at SS once in a while. Maybe a Gregg Dobbs, slightly better fielder? The man can mash. He is a solid find later in the draft. Love to see a very good utility bat come through the system. Hope he gets a chance at Reading this year is he keeps mashing.

    Like

  3. A note to Mr Hewitt
    You better not be fooling us again. He would make an interesting interview.

    Like

    1. It would be so, so awesome if Hewitt has magically clicked.

      Odds of it happening? 0.005% in all likelihood. He pulled this same move on us last year too for a bit. If he’s still doing this in July, he’s turned a massive corner developmentally.

      I agree on bringing Diekman up…might as well see if he can help out the league’s worst bullpen (by ERA at least)

      Like

      1. There’s no reason not to try bringing him up and starting him off in a situational role against LH’s and in non-critical situations at first and if he does well, move him towards the Bastardo 2011 role.

        Like

  4. Hewitt is up a level and has cut his K rate by about 30%. Sample size certainly an issue, but 23 in high A is not totally age inappropriate and the Phillies always said he’d take awhile… I dunno, but back on the radar for me at least.

    Like

    1. I have been noticing the lower K rate all year even through his slow start. His BABIP was going to normalize at some point. If he maintains a K rate in the 25% range he will probably end up hitting .250-.270 with significant power. Not saying he is a prospect yet, but this start looks like less of an aberration than his few previous hot streaks. He is still only 23 and really only has the experience of a 21 or 22 year old since he was 19 out of HS and even in HS played in a cold weather environment with far fewer reps than other similar prospects.

      Now that Pointer has cooled off, he may be the first guy I look for in the box scores each morning. He seems like a good kid from interviews, so hopefully this is real.

      Like

    2. Ever so slightly. Instead of peeking at his K’s, your eyes will be more in tune with his hits.

      Like

  5. Most bummed by the Not Hot Hitters: Brian Pointer (.083); Tyler Greene (.091); Aaron Altherr (.148); Jiwan James (.150); Maikel Franco (.154); Cameron Rupp (.158). These are actually guys people are hopeful for being “real” prospects. Some are even guys people have been VERY high on this and other seasons. This is a real density of names, not just one or two.

    Like

  6. Let’s just get crazy for a second and say Hewitt becomes a guy who can hit .260 with 20 H R power in the big leagues. Where can he play defensively based on his abilities and where couldn’t he play? Could he be an avg major leaguer defensively at 3B or is that not an option? How about OF?

    Like

    1. OF is his only choice. He has stone hands in the IF. Hewitt had 33 errors in 76 games at 3B. Overbeck looks like Brooks Robinson compared to him. He can fly so he can be a very good outfielder. Too bad Susdorf doesn’t have his speed.

      Like

  7. Im all for calling up Diekman, but the discipline of hitters in the bigs is much different than AAA. I know he has the stuff but command is going to be either there or exposed quickly.

    Like

  8. Hewitt’s K rate is still too high, his BB rate is still too low. He’s got three homers, but only two doubles. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s hit well for a few weeks either. Don’t fall back in love, you’ll likely get your little hearts crushed again

    Like

    1. Obviously it’s still too early to be excited about him and his overall line isn’t great. But, if he maintains his current line for the rest of the season, it would still be his best year and at his highest level.

      We’d all love for it to just “click” but I think it’s more likely that if he ever succeeds it will be with a lot of small improvements over time. Even up till now he has been getting better, just not by a ton.

      Like

  9. I don’t really follow other teams systems as much, but is there any prospect in recent memory who had it all just ‘click.’

    Like

  10. another great performance today by cloyd. he’s 6-0 between reading and lehigh valley with a microscopic ERA. is he a legitimate prospect?

    Like

Comments are closed.