31 thoughts on “Box Score Recap 5-17-2012”

  1. velis is only 17, impressive first start… great pitching overall. and asche is unstoppable!!!!!

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  3. He is doing just what I thought: at first just make good contact; then after that is “together” let it fly more. The pre-draft analyses of his skills always mentioned his left-handed power as his best tool along with others that he’s put on display this season.

    With the 3rd baseman on the big club very questionable for the immediate and long-term, he is bringing great hope that he will secure the position well…maybe as soon as later in the ’13 season. In that scenario he would–if he keeps going at anything like his current pace–be moved up to Reading at/about this mid-season.

    Go Cody! It would be a great thing if he could bring to our lineup the skills of an “advanced” hitter w some power. His lack of many walks is a small concern; he apparently LOVES to swing the bat and who can now question his facility there?

    Note: even Martinez has come alive at 3rd base, too. My money–if I could spare some–would be on Asche.

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    1. Asche is certainly turning it on – and showing some nice pop too. My guess about the lack of walks is that when you’re on a hitting tear, you tend to be hacking. What we might see (similar to Taylor a few years ago) is that teams are going to start pitching around him, and then he’ll start getting some walks.

      I bet a Reading promotion sometime in June will be in order, probably with H-Mart moving up to Clearwater – he hasn’t hit overly well but will certainly be able to hit that level

      – Jeff

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      1. I agree re. the walks. Why would you feel the need to work a walk if something good happens every time you swing the bat? It’s hard to criticize him for hitting the ball.

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  5. I’ve stayed off the Asche and Alonso bandwagons so far this year but they are showing some skills. Asche is getting a lot of discussion so I won’t go on about him but Alonso is a hit machine. He’s also pretty solid in the field. So far this year he;s played 2B, SS, 3B and LF. Last year, he played a little 1B. He only has 1 E in 21 games in the field. He hits everything in sight. His BB/K ratio in unbelievable. Last year he had 28 BBs to 15Ks. This year he’s 8/8. He’s 24 in A+ so there’s a downside there but he’s a couple of months younger than Lavin and he’s getting a lot of calls to move to Reading.

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  6. Both Martinez and Asche are college juniors so both could be promoted a bit more quickly. What Asche is doing in the FSL is pretty incredible so I don’t think a Reading promotion by July is that unlikely. Then depending on his play at Reading and likely Arizona Fall League it could make a bit more interesting what happens post-Polanco and just how much of a ‘stop-gap’ the Phillies look into for him.

    For a position in the farm system which prior to 2012 looked pretty barren to now have Asche, Martinez, and Franco (and I believe Mitchell Walding has been moved to 3rd. Although given that he’s a natural SS and possibly three 3B prospects at each level above him maybe they change their plans with him)

    BTW, the other reason I’d like to see Martinez continue to perform and get moved up to Clearwater is I’m a big proponent in wanting players in the farm system to play their position on a regular basis. Obviously with the full DH in A-ball you can ‘platoon-position’ players and still get them a full years worth of AB’s, but I want to see Franco and Martinez both regularly playing 3B which can’t happen if they’re on the same team.

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  7. Asche showed he knows how to draw a walk last year with 24 walks in 268 plate appearances, so I’m not worried about those numbers as much. The power numbers are what I’m most interested in. Without power, pitchers can just pound the strike zone without fear of getting hurt…better to give up a single than a walk.

    The uptick in power is a very good sign, and you’ll notice that Asche walked in his last AB after hitting a triple and a homer, I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

    Does anybody have any first hand knowledge of how Asche is in the field?

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  8. SInce today seems to be Asche Friday, I’d like to ask this question regarding sample sizes. At what point, does “small sample size” turn into “hey, he’s legitimately hot/cold?” I know it’s going to vary from person to person, but for me once you get around the 150 PA point, then you got a pretty good feel for a hitter.

    – Jeff

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    1. If you talking about being “hot/cold”, I don’t know that sample size really applies other than to say that he’s been “hot” for the last week or he’s been “cold” over the last 50 at-bats.

      As far as using sample size to make a reasonable judgement regarding a player at a level, I think you really have to get to 350-400 at-bats before being able to make a real determination.

      Albert Pujols now has 154 at-bats in 2012 with 3 hrs an OPS of .573. Based on that sample size, he certainly isn’t a $250M player but does anyone doubt that over the entire season, he won’t improve dramatically.

      Taking this back to Asche, he’s off to a very promising start but I’ll wait until July or so before jumping on/off the bandwagon.

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      1. The contact rate is quite good and approaching statistical signficance if not there already. Of course add to that early success at a higher level and success in a low run environment … I think there is room to get on the bandwagon now to some extent. Not nearly ready to annoint him our next third baseman, but this is not purely BABIP driven (though it is that too).

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          1. sorry wheels…you wlll have to be the 25th man on the wagon..and not sure you are up to it!

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    2. Asche’s HR last night was a moonshot…it hit off a sign halfway up the light tower beyond the berm. To be fair, his 3B should have been either a single or flyout, since it was a soft liner to shallow center which bounced over the diving Jupiter outfielder.

      Defensively, he looks great – handled a couple of really tough hops last night which have eaten up other 3B’s on the Clearwater infield. Strong, accurate arm.

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  9. Jeff – Without a large sample size to work with I look at the log to see if he’s doing it on a consitent basis. Is he piling on in a blowout game and padding stats or is he doing night after night against the starters and teams best pitchers?

    So far he’s hit safely in 26 of the 30 games with virtually no platoon splits to speak of. That’s a great sign.

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  10. Not a good night for Jake Diekman last night in Chicago. Lets hope that outing is the exception and not his normal outing.

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  11. IMO, the sample size argument is hard to read for projecting readiness to move up, because the sample we’re talking about is, for the most part, based on hitting stats. Asche seems like if you moved him up, he’d succeed, at the plate. It’s hard to stay “hot” for a month and a half without being capable. But the Phils may see his need to develop other things, and we can’t read that in a box score, unfortunately.

    Road trip, anyone? Ok, not really, but you guys feel free.

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  13. Give our Nebraska scout a raise!! Diekman, Cloyd, Asche, and Ruf!! All looking strong!! Go Huskers!

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  14. What makes me feel like Asche is not a Flash (sorry, too easy) is his splits. really, it is very rare to see R/L splits so even. his lack of walks doesn’t concern me. he doesn’t k much, which means he is really making solid contact. Man would it be awesome if we got a legit 3b prospect out of nowhere!

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  15. Our infield future is starting to look a little brighter. I know it is early, but it is nice to see players like Asche, Alonso, Cesar, Franco et al, providing us with much needed optimism in areas of need.

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  16. First things first, Biddle pitched great last night. A solo homer in the 6th to break his shutout withg no walks. That is so encouraging. Asche continues to hit and look great. He has a nice compact lefty swing, simlar to Pointer. Its also good to hear Slasher say his defense has been good too. He was a 4th round pick I believe so its not like he came out of the blue. I could easily see him in Reading after the all star break if he keeps this up, especially since they don’t have a third base prospect there. Alonso looks great too and if he keeps hitting, again, he will open some eyes. I don’t think he can play SS at the major league level, even in a utility role, but being able to play 2B, 3B, and LF gets you a look too, especially when you hit over 300. Knigge continues to get outs and looks like he should move up a level at the break also. The Lakewood pitching staff has been so bad as a whole and the hitting, with all those talent kids, so inconsistent, its probably been a very tough season for Morandini so far. I was hoping Giles would pick it up but not so far…

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  17. I was at the Reading game on Wednesday – May 16, 2012 when Trevor May pitched. I recorded the radar gun readings from the 3rd inning on.

    The following is a list of the pitch velocity of the Phillies pitchers followed by the outcome of each pitch. As a guide cs = called strike, ss = swinging strike, b = ball, f = foulball, K = strikeout, BB = walk, HB = hit batter, GO = ground out, FO = fly out.

    I missed the 1st inning being caught in the road construction near the stadium but had the game on the radio as I was driving. I saw the second inning but between eating and getting settled I was unable to record the velocity in that inning – however most fastballs May threw in that inning were 89 or 90 mph.

    3rd Inning
    Trevor May Pitching
    1st batter – 91 ss – 91 b – 79 ss – 89 cs — K
    2nd batter – 90 ss – 89 — Single CF
    3rd batter – 91 b – 89 b – 89 ss – 87 — Bloop Single RF
    4th batter – 83 ss – 89 b – 82 — Single LF
    5th batter – 93 ss – 89 cs – 91 ss — K
    6th batter – 90 cs – 92 f – 92 b – 77 b – 94 f – 91 — FO LF

    4th Inning
    1st batter – 90 cs – 91 ss – 76 — HB
    2nd batter – 91 b – 83 b – 88 f – 88 f – 90 — Single RF
    3rd batter – 90 — FO RF
    4th batter – 88 cs – 93 f – 90 b – 91 f – 80 ss — K

    5th Inning
    1st batter – 76 cs – 91 f – 89 — GO SS
    2nd batter – 83 cs – 91 b – 92 b – 93 cs – 91 b – 91 b — BB
    3rd batter – 82 f – 90 b – 80 f – 83 — FO LF
    4th batter – 81 f – 92 b – 94 ss – 82 b – 93 b – 81 b — BB
    5th batter – 92 b – 94 b – 89 b – 91 cs – 92 f – 91 b — BB
    6th batter – 91 b – 91 b – 87 b – 90 cs – 90 b — BB
    7th batter – 92 f – 83 ss – 85 b – 92 — GO SS

    6th Inning
    Mike Cisco replaced Trevor May
    1st batter – b – b – 89 cs – 91 ss – 91 b – 92 b — BB
    2nd batter – 89 b – 90 — E P
    3rd batter – 90 — GO 2B
    4th batter – 90 f – 90 b – 89 f – 86 — DP

    7th Inning
    1st batter – 90 — GO 3B
    2nd batter – 90 cs – 89 cs – 84 ss — K
    3rd batter – 92 b – 84 cs – 91 b – 91 f – 84 f – 84 ss — K

    8th Inning
    1st batter – 84 b – 89 cs – 89 — FO RF
    2nd batter – 91 b – 91 ss – 92 — FO LF
    3rd batter – 94 f – 90 f – 91 b – 91 b – 84 ss — K

    9th Inning
    Juan Morillo replaced Mike Cisco
    1st batter – 93 b – 94 b – 93 — GO 2B
    2nd batter – 86 b – 95 f – 96 f – 98 b – 86 b – 97 b — BB
    3rd batter – 97 cs – 98 b – 96 f – 88 b – 98 b – 95 b — BB
    J.C. Ramirez replaced Juan Morillo
    4th batter – 94 b – 93 cs – 84 ss – 83 — FO 1B
    5th batter – 93 b – 94 ss – 93 b – 90 — FO 1B

    All in all, Trevor May’s fastball was 89-91 on average with him pushing it up to 94 on occasion.

    Trevor May summary for Innings 3 thru 5
    13 — 87 to 89 mph FB
    9 — 90 mph FB
    14 — 91 mph FB
    8 — 92 mph FB
    3 — 93 mph FB
    3 — 94 mph FB
    13 — 80 to 85 mph Sliders or Change-ups
    4 — 76 to 79 mph Curveballs

    I will write a more detailed post on my thoughts on Trevor May and how the other Reading Phillies players played in this game latter on.

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  18. just saw a tweet that darin ruf will start in left field for the first time this season. maybe the phillies want to see if he can handle the outfield, since he’d be blocked at first with howard there.

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