Cody Asche Apparently Promoted

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Per Cody Asche on Twitter at about 7:43am – “Off to Baltimore the to Bowie.. Excited for the new experiences and challenges ahead”.  Reading plays in Bowie tonight.  Just sayin’.

74 thoughts on “Cody Asche Apparently Promoted”

  1. Hmmm, I have my reservations with promoting his this early, but I can’t say that I’m not excited. Good luck Cody

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    1. I wish he showed more power with Clearwater, but I’m glad he got promoted. Im sure he’ll be happy he doesn’t have to play in that Florida heat anymore

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    2. Why do you think this is too early? When would be right for him in your opinion? Asche hit well in 3 years at a decent college program and has performed well for every month so far this year at High-A. So it is not like he has had some hot streak to lift his numbers or even a very long cold streak; he has performed consistently well for 2.5 months. It sure seems like this is the right time as you want to see him in AA sometime this year.

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    1. Agree that it makes sense given the Florida State League just had their all star game and the Phillies sometimes make their promotions then to allow the promotees to enjoy their honor. Good luck Cody and wonder what kind of input the rehabbing Phillies had in Cody’s promotion.

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  3. Well deserved. There is not much hope for immediate help from position players on the farm but Cody has been a bright spot in a position that is in need of a refresh.

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  4. I would be willing to bet he puts up a significantly better slugging percentage in Reading, almost immediately. Just watch….

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    1. i’ve been following him and i think he’s ready! i’ve complained for years to anyone who would listen that the phils don’t advance their prospects quick enough. utley and howard both should have been brought up sooner! i think if he can show at reading that he’s able to hit just as good then i could see him moving to LHV before the end of the season! the phils need a 3rd sacker next season and if i were then i’d try to move him up asap! is he ready? i don’t know but the guy seems to be level headed and i’d bet he can handle it! good hitters will hit. the quality of the pitching he will see will be much better at each level up. we all know that! so if he shows he’s capable of sustaining that then there’s no reason not to move him along. who knows he could be the in house solution the big team needs. i wish him the best of luck and health.

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  5. I agree with earlier posters both here and earlier that this has as much to do with the rest of the system as Cody, but a couple other things might factor in:
    1. He has proven to me through his conduct on the field and from everything I have heard from and about him that he can deal with failure. I don’t know how quickly he will make adjustments but he doesn’t seem like a bad week or two will put him in a funk.
    2. He is switching prospect groups from a bunch of toolsheds who might become something to the next wave of prospects, I don’t know how that will affect things but it is nice to see him with Hernandez and Valle and the others over Hewitt.

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  6. One thing I haven’t seen mentioned about Asche here is that he is a much more mature and intelligent hitter than most of his peers. I am told that he spends much of the time on the bench talking to PITCHERS about their strategies against hitters and what the other pitcher was thinking during his last AB. He makes adjustments during games.

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  7. Its refreshing to hear that Asche is an intelligent hitter who actually makes adjustments during games unlike what we have seen this year from watching Victorino , Rollins and Pence who make no adjustments and can’t work the pitcher.

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    1. Wow, you’re ragging on MLB players over Asche? Could it also be that the pitchers are adjusting too and that they are pretty good?

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    2. Wow, you’re ragging on MLB players over Asche? Could it be that the pitchers are adjusting too and they’re pretty good at that level?

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      1. Guru,his point was that Pence, Rollins and Victorino have little if any plate discipline and do not do the small details correctly. Such examples are not moving runners over correctly, striking out at bad strategic times or not hitting ground balls to the center part of the infield when the opposition is allowing the run. Lets hope that Asche can learn and continue to improve enough to make the Phillies within a couple years.

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        1. The problem is that 90% of that is pure bunk, made up crap to further justify negative opinions about players who are not playing well in other, more concrete ways.

          What’s particular amusing is Pence. Last you all you heard was about his great makeup, how he did the little things right, how “clutch” he was, etc. Now he is down a bit (though really pretty much just having the season he could reasonably expected to have, but not at the level of his Philadelphia debut), and you hear this crap. Makes me want to puke.

          And, as much as I am interested in hearing first hand accounts of Asches’ “intelligence,” etc., and hoping it is true, and beleiving that, if it is true, it does matter, I’m still going to discount 95% of it, because of the same old BS we see every time. A player is playing well, and everyone claims he has a good makeup, does the little things well, is such an intelligent ball players, etc., etc. And when he starts doing poorly, the dimwitted among the fans turn on him, and all of the sudden he is a lazy bum.

          And I wouldn’t say a word about all of this if it was just positive stuff about Asche – I’d take it in, discount it some, but hope that it was correct. But start libeling major league players like this, and F-ck you, it’s disgusting, it’s rude, it’s stupid, it’s unacceptable.

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        2. i agree philabaltfan. i tell my family watching some of the phils hitters is so frustrating because of their lack of adjustments to pitchers. so when a guy like freddy galvis comes along i hear people say oh he’s not a good hitter. i beg to differ with them. i’ve been watching baseball all my life and from what i from freddy at the plate is encouraging to say the least. #1 he’s shown to be a good clutch hitter! he’s been out injured for almost 2 weeks now and rollins still has less rbi than galvis, with alot more PA’s and games! #2 freddy is a good learner. he’s gonna make rookie mistakes. that comes from inexperience, as he goes along i can see him being a hitter in the .280 range or maybe even higher. he’s had some really good ab’s and some not so good. but with that said the bad ones will be less as he gets more experience. and i think cody asche might be of the same ilk. can anyone tell me what kind of a fielder asche is? i tend to follow the offensive stats. i never ever checked his fielding stats.

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          1. So Jimmy Rollins has 2,000 major league hits and an MVP, but he hasn’t learned to make adjustments? But Freddie Galvis has. This something you see after following baseball your entire life.

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            1. yea actually VOR! what is j roll doing now any better than when he came up? he still has lousy at bats he doesn’t adjust. never has never will. he would have 300 hits if he was a good hitter! i’m not saying he doesn’t have the talent he just doesn’t adjust to be better. and yes he has the tools and the ability but he’s lacking. if he would stop trying to hit HR’s he’d be really special. and i’m not taking what accomplishments he has away from him i just think he could have been much much better. he’s had plenty of good moments but an awful lot of bad ones! if you knew anything about hitting you’d understand what i’, talking about. but apparently you’d rather give a sarcastic remark. but that’s ok i understand!

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            2. Words fail. Set aside the fact that, since, you know, pitchers make adjustments also, just staying still (statistically) requires hitter’s to make adjustments. But in Rollin’s case, we see much more than that, sustained, signficant progression as a hitter as he got into his mid to late twenties, then further adjustments to retain much of of his value as he aged and some skills suffered age related decline. I would write five paragraphs detailing this, but the people who don’t know it already are either too stupid to get it, or don’t bother educating themselves. All you need to do is to look at his career progression.

              Here’s my new resolve: be nicer to people who praise our players and prospects, but be (much) nastier to the fools like you who libel our players and prospects. Please stop soiling this site with your ignorance.

              It’s particularly disgusting to see this crap about about Rollins, the best shortstop in Phillies’ history by far.

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            3. To be clear, say what you want about Galvis, even if much of it is silly and untrue. But hey, I hope you’re right, so I won’t say much about it, except to register modest disagreement, state that I do think he has the potenetial to develop into a solid regular, and hope I’m wrong about the former and right about the latter.

              But if make up this sh-t about Rollins, f-ck you. Go away.

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            4. Larry, cool down and relax before you post as language like that will get you thrown off this board.

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            5. Larry, you hit the nail on the head. “… the people who don’t know it already are too stupid to get it.”
              If a guy claims to have followed baseball his whole life, makes a statement like that about Rollins (or Victorino for that matter) he is too simple to debate.

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            6. You’re kidding right? If galvis becomes the next jimmy Rollins, the phillies would be ecstatic. To say that galvis (and asche) makes adjustments and Rollins doesn’t, is so far away from reality, it’s mind boggling. Rollins has a title, a MVP award, numerous all-star games and gold gloves, a great phillies career. He doesn’t get all this without adjusting.

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            7. You mean Jimmy and Shane Pop Up? They both have a disturbing habit of doing that with runners in scoring position.

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            8. And I assume you have statistics to back that statement up. I look at Rollins and after a slow start he is once again a SS with good defense and average or slightly above average offense. That justifies his contract. With Victorino I would probably vote to not re-sign him because we are passing his career years and his decline will make him below average a lot quicker than Rollins’ decline will. We DO need to find a replacement, however, so I am not completely dismissing re-signing him.

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            9. AndyB, I do have statiistics to back it up as Rollins is hitting .091 with a runner on 3rd and Victorino is hitting .200.

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            10. In how many at bats? I’m willing to bet it’s a negligible amount. I get frustrated seeing it just as much as anyone, but to insinuate that either of them aren’t great players is just silly.

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            11. Rollins has an 800 OPS with runners in scoring position hitting .268 overall according to ESPN in 56 AB. Looks OK to me. Rollins is doing just fine. It is not his fault he has to lead off on this team because there is nobody that is much better.

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  9. look my point on asche is he doesnt have to hit for power to be a good thirdbasemen, look at the top ten hall of fame third basemens, brett had 300 hr in twenty years, pie traylor has 58, brooks robinson has 268 in his long career,boggs had 118 in 13 years, so there is room for good hitting third basemens with limited power.george kell had 78,

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    1. yeah, if there was ever a good, timely comparison for cody asche, its george kell and pie traynor.

      all kidding aside, i agree with your point, but i also think asche has power that he hasnt shown in clearwater yet.

      we shall see though….

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      1. What some people apaprently don’t get, insane comparisons with hall of famers aside, is that if he never develops power or plate discipline, his ceiling is a slightly below average major league regular. Which has value, but doesn’t quite justify the level of enthusiasm of some people.

        It also partially explains the divided among those of us who hope he develops into a fine major leaguer, and those who are pencilling him into the major league the lineup next year

        Now me, MY hope is that he grows as a player across the board, so that in late 2014 or maybe even 2015 we get a guy who can .develop into a star. As with virtually any minor leaguer with no experience (yet) above A ball, that’s a long shot. But at least Asche is someone we can dream on.

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    2. roccom I have no interest in wasting time getting into your comps, such as they are,* but let me ask you (and the other people who seem ready to annoint Asche a star in the making, even if he doesn’t develop his game further, and sooner rather than later, what do you project him to hit in the major leagues? Serious question.

      I’ll grant you that he doesn’t need to develop more power to become a mediocre major leaguer (assume his other skills translate to the majors, still an open question). Do we want a medicocre thrid baseman? I mean, people trash Polanco, but even at this stage of his career he is basically an Asche type player with better defense and contact skills. Wouldn’t we hope that Asche develops into more than that?

      *Okay, can’t resist one. Boggs, aside from hitting .328 career (partly because of an insanely low K rate), which seems .. a stretch for Asche, much as I like him, walked two and a half times as often per PA than Asche is currently, was quite a good defensive third baseman, and managed a respectible .115 career ISO. No fancy analystical stats there, just the basics. Now, if Asche became 1/3 the player Boggs was, all of us should be thrilled, so the fact that it is a silly comp is no swipe at Asche – but really, what’s your point? That a third baseman with plus plus plus contact skills, plus plus plate disipline, plus defense, but just okay power (though still better as a major leaguer than Asche in A+), can become a hall of famer? What does that have to do with anything?

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    3. The obvious problem with that analysis is that baseball is more complicated than 78+ HRs = Hall of Famer. Some terrible third basemen have hit more than 78 home runs. Some great third basemen have hit less than 78 home runs. (And some of the game’s greatest sluggers had less than 300 home runs.) Apart from that, most of those players had tremendous defense. Asche, I haven’t heard any real praise for his at all.

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  10. Tell you the truth didnt even know kell was in hall of fame , until i went to top ten thirdbasemen in hof. should have used homerun baker too, lmao i think his most was 12 in a season.

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      1. Yes, he was the HR leader that year as well as 3 other years in a 4 year run. With 11, 10, 12, and 9. Baker is that last player you would want to use to make roccom’s argument

        If I had more time, I’d write a pedantic comment on context and the evolution of the third base position.

        But instead I’ll simply clarify my remarks above. A third baseman indeed doesn’t need to be a home run hitter to excel. But a thrid baseman who doesn’t have much power, doesn’t walk a lot, doesn’t excel defensively … is going to be mediocre at best, especially when his contact rate is good but not exceptional.

        None of this is a knock on Asche. I have high hopes that he will develop his skills in all or most of those areas. Get the power up a little, get the BBs up a little, keep the BA over .300 … he could be a heck of a player. But he has a long way to go.

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        1. I was actually refuting it in that you cant compare a player from deadball era to now, for when he played he was a power hitting 3d baseman.

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  11. Though it is short-time, we have two candidates for 3rd base giving us hope for that position in the near and not-so-near future between Asche and the recent (3-4 games) guy Walding in competition. With Walding it is a great leap forward but isn’t it a great pleasure to see success at a position in such dire need.

    Congrats to those of us who spotted Asche early on this season. We KNOW that Asche will hit the weights over this coming winter. It is likely that a guy who makes such good contact will then add more power to gain at least 20-25 HR/seasons. That seems to be likely.

    Walding is starting out with the same kind of EARLY success as Asche this season. Congrats to the scouting and coaching staffs for the ’11 draft. Some here judged that draft to be our finest in a while, even more than our ’08 draft. That has been my judgment, too.

    It might turn out that 3b is a future strength.

    The question remains: how quickly can Asche move up to replace the likes of Polanco, et al? Surely he will be sent to the AFL in Oct., and he’ll take it from there. Worth watching. Keep in mind that he is a college draftee and thus has 2 more yrs of baseball play after high school before coming to the Phils.

    Watch ’em!

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    3. Some of it might depend on the direction the Phillies take the rest of this season and the offseason. If they go full on rebuilding mode, he could see the field for the Phillies in 2013. If they rebuild, don’t expect to see Polanco around in 2013 or a big time signing for a 3rd baseman. If Asche excels at reading and has a good offeason and preseason, they might just throw him in at 3rd and see if he swims

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      1. The Phils wouldn’t let their “untouchable” prospect swim. I have no faith that this FO or coaching staff has the patience to allow a young player to find his way. The only way for something like that to happen is if the team goes into a full blown rebuilding mode. Which isn’t likely to happen anytime soon given RAJ’s disposition of selling the farm (pun intended).

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      2. I don’t think the phillies will be in rebuilding mode for 2013. Even if they let hamels and victorino walk, there’s still enough talent here to compete. Asche will likely end the year at reading, and 2013 in the minors too. Unless asche goes bonkers with the bat, his timetable is 2014.

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    4. Actually, if we really want to give somebody credit, James called Asche a top ten prospect in the midst of his debut last summer.

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        2. At that point he probably was. The wheels really fell off for Colvin in the latter half of last season, if I’m not mistaken.

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        3. Anon vor r u mike77 who was asked to find another place to post. He was pretty sharp guy on the prospects.

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    5. Dont forget about franco art. He is still young for his league and is talented. We might even have another in the new clwater 3b. Weve come along way from chapman and mattairs of the world.

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      1. Franco is the 3rd baseman of the future but it doesn’t hurt at all to have Asche, Walding and possibly Zach Green lining up to make their case. Competition will bring the cream to the top. The corner infield spots are looking just a little better these days. It’s a lot better than when we had all our eggs in one Mattair basket. SS and 2B aren’t looking too bad either. Just so we don’t don’t start doing backflips, all these guys could fail in the blink of an eye and we’ll be back here, 2 years from now, whining about the lack of infield prospects.

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        1. Bellman…..’Franco is the 3rd baseman of the future’….IMO a little early to proclaim him that title. He certainly is in the top 2/3 3rd basemen candidates. But still like to see how he does at Reading in 2013/2014.

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          1. I’d like to see if he can hit at Lakewood at some point. Time is on his side but I think we should be happy if he ends 2013 in Clearwater. Forget Reading.

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  12. Good for Asche. I hope Cloyd is next because Kendrick has done poorly enough to let somebody else take a shot.

    Anyway, this was a good time to promote Asche I think. He’s been on a hot streak lately, even for him, with 4 BBs in his last 10. I’m not sure we’ll see that much of a difference in his power numbers but a couple doubles will probably turn into HRs.

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  13. All i said was if ,and I have never seen this kid play, if you read my pieces on him , if he is a good hitter with no power and can field then i would take that, never said he was great player like boggs or brett, just said he can be a good major league without having a lot of power, nothing else, dont please put words in my mouth, but when i can go to hof players and see that they didnt hit a lot of homeruns and some are current, then its shows it can be done that all my point is, i cant stand here and say what kind of player he will be in terms of walks, until he gets more experience, thats why i dont believe in some of the stats people bring on here.and the fielding in the minors is a lot different than the majors becasue of the fields, not seeing him there really isnt anyway that i can know about his arm or fielding.and larry what do i project him to hit in the majors stopped for me. back when i saw a kid with unreal minor league number, triple crown winner in triple a and he stunk up the place when he came up to the majors, anyone know mike anderson look at this stats.so in closing my point is you dont need to have power to be a good thirdbasemen thats all, and never annointed this kid great,

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  14. If he has the same power numbers as Polly, but can hit for average and play well in the field, what’s there to complain about? Oh, I forgot…

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    1. Um, you do know that Polanco is a well above average third baseman, and Asche isn’t? (He may be average, or a little below – reports are sparse. But no one has ever called him an above average fielder.)

      As for batting average, I wouldn’t assume such a big edge for Asche at this point, for a lot of reasons I won’t rehash. Polanco has a much better contact rate, and a high career BA – he is a career .300 hitter. Asche, if he continues to develop, is a good bet to hit higher than Polanco’s current .273. But that’s really his only strength, at the moment.

      Which again is no reason to knock him as a prospect. Even roccom and I seem now to see eye to eye on this, but there still seems to be some people who see that batting average, and ignore context and everything else. So let me ask you the same question I asked roccom – what do you project his major league batting average to be?

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  15. I have a sinking feeling that Asche’s .399 BABIP was the underlying factor in his success, and that he won’t be nearly as fortunate in AA. That said though, the Phillies almost HAD to make this move. Martinez and Franco can’t be on the same team if they are expected to develop properly.

    I REALLY hope that the FSL was the reason Asche’s power wasn’t surfacing, but I’m not holding my breath.

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  16. You mention franco , he is really struggling, wonder if they send him down to williamsport to get some confidence,

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    1. They’d probably consider it if Walding wasn’t there. The way I see though, Franco is just going to have to suffer through the growing pains since the lower levels of this system are so flush with third baseman right now.

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  17. I won’t jump into the Asche conversation – everything is being said already.

    A couple of things to note. Jonathan Pettibone might be developing into our best pitching prospect. To my mind, he has passed May and I still like May a lot. With the higher K rate and the low whip and baa, he appears to be rounding into form very quickly as a serious major league middle of the rotation propect. If he does this for a few more weeks, he could be in LhV by mid-July. It turns out that the scouting community probably was right about this guy. I cannot wait until he is promoted so I can see what he has on tv.

    Ruf is learning to pick his spots and take a walk if they throw him junk. It suggests his further evolution as a hitter and bodes well for future success at higher levels.

    Has any prospect been more disappointing than Eldemire this year? Don’t say Brown (he was hurt and is about to rake with an overhauled swing – he will be fine) – Colvin was close but he appears to be turning things around.

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    1. A prospect not in the top 30 at the beginning of the year, is MORE of a disappointment than our #4 prospect, having a horrendous season?
      There are many guys having more disapointing seasons than Eldemire, because of expectations.
      Colvin, Austin Hyatt, Lino Martinez and Aumont, to name a few.

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      1. Aumont has been an up and down guy since he came here so yes he can be counted but its not out of the Blue, hes always had control issues and that is what is wrong with him.

        I have to agree on Eldemire he is 23 and is still not doing ANYTHING at all….

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  18. I don’t know about you guys but I’m looking for the next batch of potential all stars not just guys that can make the MLB. When things came together for us in 08 it was Rollins, Utley, Howard and to some extent Victorino. In hindsight you can look at their minor league careers (age and level) and see how they became above average MLB talents. there was near linear progression and consistency at every level.

    Fast forward to today’s system and we don’t have more than a handful of players demonstrating they are that type of caliber. You have Brown and we all know how that has gone. Ruf but his athletic ability and position hurt him and then there is Asche, we’ll see what happens. He’s on the right track.

    When you have something you have something. Just take a look at the Minor League numbers for Moustakas and Lawrie and tell me if you still think Franco is going to amount to anything. Thus far his graph tells me no with the caveat he’s still 19.

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    1. Franco’s at an age where a lot of players are freshmen in college. So many players made a dramatic jump from nothing to star at this point that it’s really all projection for a 19 year old.

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